The Eighth Wonder of the World
by Bananaz the Sugar Monkey
Summary: Artemis and Holly are placed into the world of Romeo and Juliet, they are extremely desperate to get out.When life throws at them more than they can handle, it turns into something harder than they could imagine. AH, language Chapter 16 up!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once for this story: I do not own the Artemis Fowl characters, any other characters related to any other literary work, or any you can relate to that's copyrighted. K? It's just changed around a bit to fit the story. It is an AU, after all.

Author's Note: This is the prologue of my second Artemis Fowl fan fic. It was originally going to be a Harry Potter story, but face it: There are over 187,000 stories for that and only around 1,300 for Artemis Fowl, which is just as good a series, just not as publicized. So I changed my idea around, and I like it better. So here it is and please review. This story is dedicated to my late dog, Flash. I had to rewrite the rest of my story because ffnet didn't like it. This is the same, the rest isn't. Please review even if you already did for the old version.

**PLEASE READ AUTHOR"S NOTE**

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

Artemis was listening as Root decided his fate. Was he to be mind wiped and lose his memories forever, or could he at least have one last adventure with his only friends? Holly was trying to persuade Root to let her try and retrieve the code instead of an entire Retrieval team, but the Commander had not yet decided. Root had been offered two options, both of which had also been offered to Artemis. A mind wipe now, or a mind wipe after they got the cube back from Spiro. Artemis did not like either option, and was hoping for a further alternative. After one adventure that had bonded him with the fairy people forever, he could not lose the four fairies he had acquiantanced himself with over the last two and a half years, especially when he had his first friends, Holly and Mulch, among the bunch.

Foaly interrupted, "Wait, Commander, I have an idea. What if instead of the mind wipe, Fowl has to test one of my _notorious_ inventions."

Commander Root recalled some of Foaly's inventions that he could not test on elves without their permission under Haven's law. And since most testers were prisoners of Howler's Peak, they said no anyway. Foaly could not use force to persuade, to his disappointment. It had a possibility, and it would help Haven…

"All right then, Foaly. So, what do you choose, Fowl: A mind wipe or being a tester?"

"Anything to keep my memories, Commander. Being a tester it is."

The incident in Chicago was successful, as all readers of the series know. The C Cube was stolen back in a technological warfare between Dr. Pearson and Foaly, and Jon Spiro was outwitted by Artemis through his hatred towards Phonetix. Holly and Artemis bonded even more, Juliet realized she wasn't bodyguard material and went to try out for wrestling, and Butler became more of Artemis's advisor than his bodyguard. Gaining Kevlar in your chest did that to a guy, even if he was one of the best bodyguards in the world.

At the end of the incident, Root and Artemis had a spur over what the agreement meant. Root thought that because only Artemis was involved, Juliet and Butler would lose their memories, and Artemis believed when they made the agreement, all could keep their recollections of the fairy people.

"I meant you could keep your memories, Fowl, not the rest of the Mud Men involved in this occurrence."

"It's useless, since I would remind them everything anyway."

"Who said you would survive being a tester? Foaly hasn't decided which of his contraptions to use, and he has a lot."

Artemis's face drained of color. "You never said this would be deadly."

"I never did? Sorry. One little detail can't hurt you."

"No, it would kill me."

"You know what? You agreed to this, and I'm going to make sure you fulfill the terms of your agreement."

The short little elf could pack a punch, especially when his face was turning its famous beet red and hands curling into fists. Artemis stuttered back, "But- -" and soon Commander Julius Root had Artemis harnessing himself in a Moon Belt and wrapping himself in cam foil. _Mesmer_ and death threats could do that to a guy.

Root flew Artemis, both shielded to the naked eye, to Tara. Chute E7 was waiting to take them back to Haven on a first class shuttle, furnished with cushioned seats and four star foods. A Commander wouldn't expect less, especially since this wasn't one of the Recon trips in a pod. Artemis sat on the floor as Root sat in the pilot seat. Artemis had originally planned on sitting in the most luxurious seat, but the Commander thought otherwise. Pity.

Soon the two arrived in LEP headquarters. Holly escorted them to the Operation Booth, where an excited Foaly sat in anticipation of delivering Artemis's fate. Normally he couldn't control what happened to people and fairies, that being Root's job, so Foaly took pleasure in his glory. Such a chance would never come again; a problem with being a "civilian" and not a member of the LEP. When the three arrived, he began with a long winded speech.

"You know I got to choose which of my inventions that you would test, Mud Boy, and I made the decision of choosing something that no one else in their right minds would test, because it was so risky. But since you are being forced, I chose my most favorite mechanism that was yet to be tested. Now, since this machine requires two people to operate it, someone will choose who will accompany Artemis. This chosen fairy will be chosen before the invention is revealed, and you can't back out if you agree. This chosen will be compensated for their help of course, and they must make sure that the invention is not tampered with by our little genius over here," the centaur proclaimed, pointing to Artemis.

"So who is Artemis's accompanist?" Root inquired.

"You choose, Commander," Foaly answered.

"All right then. I choose..."

A long pause proceeded Root's decision. Beyond the weight of making this decision was the fact that Foaly had called him Commander. A good thing, but suspicious. He knew Foaly wouldn't make Artemis _and _an officer be put in a possibly fatal situation, so it wouldn't hurt to choose a good officer, one who could control Artemis.

"Yes?" Foaly asked.

"Holly."

"What?" Holly asked.

"Yes, I choose you to supervise Artemis. You're the only one who can control him. Are you going to do it?"

"I guess…" Holly replied reluctantly.

Foaly took Holly into a room in the Operations Booth where he kept all of his supplies. He gave Holly a hazel iris cam, and a pill.

"What is this for, Foaly?"

"You'll see. Don't worry, it won't hurt you."

"It better not," she said, eyeing the centaur.

Holly swallowed the pill and followed Foaly back into the Operations Booth.

"So what is this invention of yours, Foaly?" Artemis interrogated.

"Yeah, I'm sure we'd all like to know," Holly said.

"It's…"

Another long pause occurred, to raise the suspense level. It annoyed everyone, and after over a minute it was fairly infuriating. Normally the centaur couldn't be silent for more than ten seconds.

"Yes, pony boy?" Root retorted.

"Well, Holly, Artemis, Julius, it's a… time machine."

"_What?_" responded everyone simultaneously.

* * *

Please review! 


	2. New Identities

Author's Note: 9 reviews! I wanted to thank Agivega for giving me the idea for this story. Not in person, but in her awesome story which I personally think is the best Artemis fan fic on the site, _The Aztec Incident_…no offense to anyone else, its just amazing how someone who doesn't even speak English as their native language can write that well, and its long enough to be the 5th book. There's this line in there that goes something like… "I'm not Juliet, and Artemis isn't Romeo…" and that stemmed from there. I am basing their clothing style on the Zefferelli version that we watched in English. And the guys wore capes, puffy shirts, and stuff like that in the movie. Please review to tell me how well I'm keeping it accurate…I'm never written anything historical before except for a journal on a person crossing the Oregon Trail in 5th grade. Lol

Thank you to AHHPFAN, Knight Of Eternal Darkness, and HollyShortgirl.

VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR"S NOTE ABOVE…SOME THINGS WILL NOT MAKE SENSE UNLESS YOU READ!

* * *

Holly ran over to slap the centaur on the head, but as Holly ran towards him Foaly ran into a room and started dragging out a machine. It was around six feet in height, obviously altered to fit Artemis, and silver in color. Many buttons and levers were flashing, and the controls were connected to Foaly's computer. Towards the bottom was a rotating cylinder that currently said August 13, 2003, and the time. It moved as time went by.

"Whoa," Artemis said uncharacteristically.

"Thank you," said Foaly, "Now get in."

"Wait," replied Holly, "Aren't you gonna tell us where we're going?"

"Aboveground." Foaly smirked.

"I think she means what time period," Artemis said.

"Yea," Holly replied.

"Well, I haven't decided yet," Foaly admitted coolly, "But I will once you get in. I'll feel less guilty about it later."

At that moment, Holly vowed she would punch Foaly and kick him so hard – - - But as she had the thought, Artemis and herself were pushed into the machine.

"Ladies first," Artemis muttered.

Soon Foaly locked the door and waved mischievously good bye. Holly started banging the door, and Artemis started muttering under his breath again.

"Please say you're thinking of a plan to get us out of this," Holly whispered.

Artemis merely shook his head, which annoyed Holly. Artemis was supposed to be a genius, who can think up plans that have few flaws, do complicated math problems in his head, and even rewrite the Harry Potter books in Latin without an English/Latin dictionary, for heaven's sake. So why couldn't he stop Foaly, who now was acting like the mad scientist he was. The machine started whirring, and the time clock inside the machine was moving backwards. Through the speakers was chanting in a man's voice that sounded like Foaly's but a bit deeper. Artemis, as the boy genius he was, recognized as the prologue to act one of _Romeo and Juliet_ by William Shakespeare.

* * *

The poem sounded familiar to Holly, but she could not remember where it was from. Artemis, on the other hand, had a flash of recognition similar to when he realized Holly had to cut off Spiro's thumb in the Needle. Holly would ask what it was from, but the inertia of the machine was unnerving. But soon the machine came to a stop, and Holly found herself alone, in a house, and standing in front of a mirror.

As soon as Holly saw the mirror, she knew she had changed. Holly recalled the pill she had taken, and she realized that the pills turned her into a human. Oh, joy. The ting she first noticed was her hair. It was the same color, the reddish brown that was different from most elves' fiery red, but it had grown. No longer was it the crew cut that was part of the job, nor was it the jagged cut she was trying to grow out, but it was almost waist length, wavy and silky to the touch. Her eyes were still hazel, but she had grown, maybe to around 5' 3". Her clothes were something she would never wear. She wore a light pink, almost red, very puffed up dress with many petticoats underneath, making it very heavy. The sleeves were bulbous from the elbow down, and the collar of the dress went straight to the neck. Obviously women in this time frame were very conscious about not showing skin, which had gone from its coffee color to a pale peach. Her hair had changed, too. Its color was the same, and it looked how it would if it had been able to grow out. It was wavy and went to her waist. Her shoes were very simple leather flats, and her hands were manicured and looked as if they had never done a day's work in her life. Her ears were no longer pointy, and Holly became anxious to test to see if all of her elveness was gone. She saw a needle, and pricked her finger with it, blood drops dripping from the prick. Soon a blue spark healed it and it looked like it had never been there. So she looked like a female human, yet she still had her powers. Thank Frond she did.

After Holly's examination in the mirror, she took in the house. The room she was in had a bed, wrapped in cloth. Further examination showed it was stuffed with feathers. She shuddered. Poor birds. A desk was in her room, carvings intricately set into the handles and the legs. The family she had been in must be rich. The room was lit with the sunlight pouring in from the window, but at night it must have been lit by candle light, since there were several candelabras in the room. She investigated the room some more, to find that she was the only occupant. Where was Artemis? Where was she?

"Juliet!" someone in the house called. "Juliet!"

_Who is Juliet_, Holly thought.

"Juliet!"

A lady, who seemed very old, dressed in a grey dress as puffy as hers and a bonnet covering her head burst through the door.

"Why didn't you answer me when I called you?" a lady said in Italian.

"Who's Juliet?" Holly inquired using her fairy gift of tongues to reply in the language.

The lady had a look on her face that said, "Have you gone crazy?" but replied, "_You_ are Juliet, lady, Juliet Capulet."

"No, my name is Holly," Holly replied.

"Must I call your mother? You are the thirteen year old Juliet Capulet, and if you are not, then you look just like her. And since Miss Juliet was here naught but fifteen minutes ago, then where hath she gone?"

Holly figured she might as well play along. If she was in the time period when people who claimed they were someone else was considered a witch and burnt at the stake, then she would rather avoid that fate.

"Just joking, lady," Holly replied nervously.

"But no, you are lady, as is Lady Capulet. I am Nurse, your nurse who has raised you since your birth into Verona."

Was that what that chanting meant, the "_In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,"_ that she had heard earlier? So was Verona in Italy then? What year was it though?

"What year is it, Nurse?" Holly asked tentatively.

"1397, dear. How does thou forget?"

_So_, Holly thought, _which means we've gone back over 700 years! I must think of an excuse on how I forget, how did I forget? How? _Holly looked by the window and saw the streams of sunlight.

"It must have been the heat."

"Yes, yes," the Nurse said absentmindedly.

"Now why did you call?" Holly inquired.

"To tell you news. The Montagues, our great enemies, fought with our servants in the streets _again_."

"Over what?"

"The Montagues probably provoked us, those wretched human beings."

"Probably," Holly said as she played along, "But why are they our greatest rivals?"

"The enmity has been between our two families for hundreds of years. I do not know why. But why do you ask me this? You have inquired before."

"I must have forgotten."

"Yes, yes, we all forget things. But allow me to elaborate on the fight. Our two servants, Gregory and Sampson, were provoked by two of the Montague servants. I know not their names, but they were equally matched and soon they had their swords up, and then Tybalt bravely fought those brainless idiots."

"So what else happened?"

"Well, the grand Prince Escalus came and talked to your father, and this afternoon he is going to talk with the enemy."

"The Montagues?"

"Who else would be our enemies?"

"I do not know. Do we have any others, Nurse?"

"No."

"Oh, yes, yes," said Holly, brushing her temple with her finger to show her forgetfulness.

"Now, miss, we must get ready for your party. Its tonight, after all, and we haven't decided an outfit!"

"Oh, the horror!" Holly replied sarcastically, "What's the party for again?"

"Where hath your memory gone, Miss Juliet?"

"I do not know, Nurse."

"Come, come, we must find you your most exquisite dress."

_Ugh,_ Holly thought, _dresses and old language. What a grand time this shall be. _

* * *

Artemis was standing in a forest, leaning against the tree. The machine was nowhere in sight, but his first thought was, "Where is Holly!" He didn't care where he was, what year, as long as he knew somebody, but he didn't know anyone in this alternate world, and that above all filled him with rage. Artemis looked around and saw a path beneath his feet. He followed the path, lost in thought. Soon Artemis was in a city, but if he noticed no one could tell. He had to figure out where he was, the year he was stuck in, and the location of the only familiar face he knew: Holly Short. _But, wait, _he thought_, what if that centaur put the two of them in separate time periods?_ One thing, he would know Foaly would be murdered if that would be the case.

"Good morning," a guy standing in front of him said in Italian. Thankfully Artemis knew Italian.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Has thou lost his mind? You have seemed so depressed in recent nights, Romeo, and has your sad nature led you to this madness? To forget his kinsmen Benvolio?"

Artemis froze in mid thought_. Oh, my gosh, the chanting in the machine was the prologue of Romeo and Juliet! Shoott, I'm in a play where I kill myself! Does this mean I'm Romeo? Who's Juliet though? Calm down, Artemis, think rationally. You have to remember how people talked back then. You did a project on this in elementary school. Think, boy, think. You memorized the play too! Even if they don't talk like they did in the play, the subtext is similar. Surely you can paraphrase the lines…_

"Sorry, but I did not recognize your voice, Benvolio. What time is it?"

"Round nine," Benvolio replied.

"Time has gone by so slow"

"What sadness lengthens your hours?"

_The fact that I'm 708 years early_, Artemis thought. "Maybe not having enough fun?"

"Does Romeo need love in his life since Rosaline has left him?"

"Rosaline? And why would a 13 year old want love?" _Almost fourteen, but still…,_ Artemis thought.

"Romeo, you're not younger than 16."

"Ok…Let's go eat. I'm hungry. All this sadness is depressing. All this hate, broken hearts, lovesick people, so much chaos! This love feel I, that feel no love in this. Dost thou not laugh?"

"I'd rather weep."

"Why?"

"At your continual sadness."

"Some regrets hold me back," Artemis stated before pausing, to interpret the other part of his little speech. "Love is so easily given, so easily taken back. And my loss of Rosaline's love among other things is very depressing. Love is a complex thing. What else could it be? A madness, an obsession, maybe? I will see you later, Benvolio."

"I better see you later."

"If you so insist."

"You seem so depressed yet it does not seem like it's about Rosaline. After all, you two no longer loved the other a month ago. Who is it now?"

"Why should I tell you if there is someone?"

"I am your cousin."

"Blood cannot make a decision of the heart. But I can tell you this; I love no one." Artemis could not say he loved a woman, because the only woman he loved was his mother, and that wasn't the kind of love they were talking about in this conversation. Loving your family was optional, it was true, but it just wasn't near love for say, a soul mate.

"I was so close."

"You're very good at guessing then."

"I suppose so."

"You can not suppose, you must believe."

"Is there a difference?"

"Why yes. Of course there is!"

"What is it? But stop beating around the bush, Artemis, and please tell me who you love."

"I love no one, but I only can think of what I could learn to love."

"What would you learn to love?"

"I do not know."

"How can you not? Please tell me."

"What will you give me?"

"I will confide in you in important matters and decisions."

Artemis thought that was a crummy trade off, but he allowed this promise to stay. In any case, he would never see this guy after Foaly took them back. "I presume I would love a smart woman, someone who I could talk to about intellectual matters easily." As shallow admittance as it was, Artemis was shocked that he could say that so easily. He had never really thought about the opposite sex, let alone think about what he would look for. He spent too much time thinking about money, the rehabilitation of his father, gold, and stock prices. He rarely thought about love in general, let alone women, or the idea of him being in love.

"Thank you for telling me, Romeo."

Benvolio left, and Artemis remained, surprised he could interpret those lines so easily after not reading the play for seven years. His brain would never cease to amaze him. However, he soon left and followed Benvolio when he remembered they were family and Artemis would need to know where he lived. Following the stone path through the city, he soon saw the estate of the Montagues. He caught up with Benvolio, stayed behind him until Benvolio noticed him. The Montague opened his mouth to say something, but a man in red clothing approached the two of them, looking frustrated.

"Good morning, sir."

"Good morning to you too, sirs. Can you read?" he asked.

"Of course!" Artemis said. It would be a shame if he couldn't.

"Can you read everything?"

"Surely." Artemis had studied Italian before, and he could read and write in it, just as he could in English, along with Spanish, French, Vietnamese, and Russian. At times like these, it was good to be smart, but even better to be a genius.

"Thank you!"

The man gave him the paper. Artemis said, reading the paper, "Martino family; County Anselmo and his sisters; the lady of Vitruvio; Signior Placentio and his nieces; Mercutio and Valentine; the Capulet family; my niece Rosaline; Livia; Signior Valentio and his cousin Tybalt; Lucio and the Helena.' A fair amount of people. Where are they going?" Artemis declared as he gave back the paper.

"To the estate."

"Where?"

"To dinner, at our house."

"Whose house?"

"My master's."

"And who is this master of yours?"

"The great and rich Capulet. If you aren't a Montague, please come and join us. You would be welcome after your services to the household."

The servant left.

"This party would have many of Verona's beauties attend. We must go, at the very least for the food and ladies."

"If you must insist."

"I will show you the best, and we will have a wonderful time."

"All right, I'll go," Artemis replied as Benvolio walked away.

So this was the party where Romeo and Juliet first met. _But who is Juliet_, Artemis thought, following Benvolio at a ten yard distance.

* * *

Author's Note: Please review! 


	3. Adjusting

No author's Note this week, too lazy.

* * *

Holly, or shall we say, Juliet, strolled along the corridor of the Capulet estate, obediently following the Nurse's call of "Juliet!"

She walked in, seeing a lady in red talking to the Nurse.

"What?" Holly blatantly said.

"Excuse me," said the lady in red, "is that a way to talk to your mother?"

Holly started to say, "You're not my mother," but held it back, holding her head down in fake apology.

Lady Capulet proclaimed, "Nurse, Juliet and I must talk alone. Then, after a while, you may come back, since you know her age."

The Nurse replied, "Of course I do."

"She's not fourteen," Holly's "mother" replied.

"No, she is not now, but she will be soon. How long until the next holiday?"

"About a fortnight."

"At that night she will be fourteen. On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen…" the Nurse went on talking, and Holly started to not pay attention. The Nurse kept talking and talking, and Holly realized in this world she was thirteen, which was surprising. In her world she was around 85, and if she was a thirteen year old elf she would still be in elementary school, the fairies' version of it anyway.

"Will you not, Juliet?" the Nurse finished.

"Ok…" upon hearing her new name, Holly replied with the blandest answer.

"I really hope to see you married, Juliet."

"Do you want to be married?" her mother asked.

_Marriage_, Holly thought, _at thirteen, D'arvit! _She spoke, "No, thanks! The honor of being married is for older people." Little did Holly know, what she spoke was close to her line. _Man, am I gonna kill Foaly…_

_"_You speak with much wisdom."

Holly grimaced at the remark. Lady Capulet, however, persisted. "Many women younger than you have already tied the knot. Paris, who wishes to court you, is the one you must marry."

_Paris is probably some old dude who's twice my age_, Holly thought, shuddering.

"Paris is a wonderful man, perfect for you too."

_"_So, what do you say? Can you love Paris? Tonight he will be here, and learn to love him as he hath loved you. The love you two will bring will help Verona, but only if you learn to love him," Lady Capulet said.

"She will learn to love, and like the love she recieves."

_What was that supposed to mean?_

_"_Can you like Paris's love?"

"If he's close in age and cute in looks, fine," Holly said, lying through her teeth. _Hopefully he'll have a decent personality too…or maybe…I can get out of this hellhole where there's dresses and arranged marriages. _Sure, the fairies had their occasional arranged marriage, but that was out in the suburbs and farms, not in the cities where Holly was born and grew up in.

Someone wearing a hideous orange outfit walked in, bowing to Lady Capulet. "Madam, everyone has arrived. Please follow me to the party."

"Alright," Lady Capulet stated as the servant walked out, "Juliet, you will like Paris's love and learn to love him."

"Yes, yes," the Nurse said, following Lady Capulet.

The two left Holly standing there in shock. _Marriage? At thirteen? To Paris, who sounds like an old guy with a beard? The horror! Speaking of horrible people, where was Artemis, who wasn't that horrible, but… And why do these names sound so familiar? A childhood story, perhaps? A play, a movie, someone or something Mud Man? _Where was she? Exasperated at Foaly, Holly followed the only people in this time she knew the names to.

* * *

Artemis, as he walked through the streets of Verona, noticed several things about the time period, being the genius he was. His clothes included a blue cape, matching puffed-up blue shirt, and- to his absolute horror- tight blue pants. Since he was a genius, it was startling that he did not try to figure out the time period before. The streets were cobblestone, people rode horses or were drawn in primitive carriages, and the streets were lined with pushcarts with people selling goods and produce. He had been following Benvolio from a distance, and remembered that he would have to get home to go to the Capulet's party, and since he did not know where home was, he would have to find out. Artemis was happy though, since he could memorize an entire play. The only odd thing though, was that they talked similarly to today's terms. How could that many historians be wrong?

"Hello, Benvolio" Artemis greeted.

"Hello," replied Benvolio.

"Give me a torch,-- it is too dark," Artemis said.

"We all must dance with someone tonight, especially you, Romeo," Mercutio, a friend of the Prince said.

"I dance like I have two left feet," Artemis replied truthfully.

"You are in love, borrow Cupid's wings, and you will fly," Mercutio replied.

_Well, at least their analogies are still the same._ "His arrow hurt me too much."

"You can still fly on love's tender wings."

"Is love a tender thing? It is too hurtful."

"Love can be both tender and rough-- Here, look at my mask," Mercutio said as he put on a blue and green mask.

"Come on, lets go," Benvolio said.

"If you must insist," Artemis stated.

"Come on, its getting dark, and soon if our torches burn out we will not be able to find our way," Mercutio declared.

"That's not true."

"We're spending too much time arguing when we could have been there by now, that's what I mean."

"I suppose, but you two have yet to wear your masks. Why wont you?"

"I don't know."

"Well, put them on."

"Alright." Simultaneously Benvolio and Artemis put on their masks. Benvolio's was different shades of green, and Artemis's had different shades of blue. He could barely see through the opening.

Mercutio said, "Romeo, you seem so melancholy."

"Why do you ask?"

"I had a dream," Mercutio said.

"Wow," Artemis replied sarcastically, "So did I."

"Well, what was yours?"

"That dreamers' dreams speak no truths."

"But what they tell you about their dream is true."

Mercutio started to rant about someone Artemis recognized from mythology, Queen Mab, a fairy who caused dreams. It was very boring, and after five minutes of it, the boy genius and Benvolio's obvious boredom slowed him down, but he kept talking. Artemis, as always the boy genius, would have listened, but he already knew about it, so why would he listen?

"Ok, Mercutio, whatever. All this is a myth anyway," Artemis said with a bored tone. But he was bored, after all who wouldn't be after that speech? But he had used _slang_ when he talked. Artemis, who tried to always sound like the great intellect he was, used _whatever_. He shuddered.

"Yes, I do talk of dreams and myths. Even though there is no proof of them being true, they still provide laughter and recollection about certain topics we would ne'er think about now."

"Mercutio, you need to stop talking. Now we're even more late to the party," Benvolio interrupted.

"Come on, let's go" Artemis declared.

"Yes, yes," Benvolio said.

The three young men walked through the cobbled streets towards the Capulet estate, Artemis silently congratulating himself for interpreting his lines. During his unneeded confidence boost, he realized that the party scene was next. He would have to make a girl fall in love with him, which to the thirteen year old was terrifying, especially since he had to act like he loved someone in return. He had never really thought about women, or love, and now in the next couple of hours, he would have to experience it for himself. But still, who was Juliet? And where was Holly?

* * *

**Operations Booth, present time, about three hours after the switch**

"Foaly!" someone screeched.

"What, Julius?" replied the witty centaur.

"Where the D'arvit are they?"

"I dunno."

"Yes you do, pony boy! Tell me now!" Commander Root walking into the room, his face his trademark color.

"But I don't know!" Foaly said innocently.

"If you don't tell me now I'll shove your computer - -" Root threatened.

"Now, now don't need to be like that, Julius," Foaly said smarmily. Of course he knew where Artemis and Holly were, he didn't know what year they were in though. Or whether they had taken over two people's identities or just appeared out of nowhere. They were in Verona, Italy, and that was all he knew. And since Foaly was an unappreciated genius who supposedly knew everything, he might as well keep his status.

"Tell me the D'arviting truth NOW!"

Foaly watched as Root took out his Neutrino 2001 and pointed it to the centaur. "I don't know!" he said exasperatedly.

"Really?" Root questioned as he turned the weaponry on.

When Root pulled the Neutrino to Foaly's head, Foaly admitted, "I know where they are but not when." _Typical for Julius to use something I cant against me_, the centaur thought.

"I thought you were a genius, Foaly, you're supposed to know these things!"

"Sorry, Julius."

"Don't call me Julius!" Commander Root roared, storming out of the room while Foaly added, "Well, it _is_ your given name."

"Temper, temper," Foaly tisked. He had to admit though, he was worried about Artemis and Holly. Why didn't he know? Why wasn't the iris cam showing up on his screen? He had tested it before with a bug he had shoved into that machine, and it had worked. Ugh, he hated putting himself down. Time to go get some carrots. And some beetle juice. Make that a couple cartons of carrots, cans of beetle juice, a petition to get a raise, a better budget. He could use this incident to get a better budget. He could say that the lack of money caused this whole thing.

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Please review! 


	4. Girl in a Red Dress

Author's Note: 21 reviews! Okay so **this** is the party scene, where Artemis meets Juliet…I've been waiting to write this chapter now for two weeks, and now I can write it! Sorry its so short, but I wanted to stop before I got to Act 2. I know, its 2 short chapters in a row, but at least both are over seven pages in Word…even though I can usually get to nine or ten… OH! And I was planning how this story would end, and it's gonna be around 25 chapters. I'm aiming for at least 50,000 words.

Thanks to Knight of Eternal Darkness, lead paint - tempting but BAD, and Holly, -anon-anon-anon-, Taran, ShadowMagicks, and Zarroc.

Kp: OMG! I love your comment! Thank you! For that wonderful wonderful comment that made my day…I dedicate this chapter to you! Lol

Bibliophile: Holly's hair IS longer. And I quote from chapter 2: "The thing she first noticed was her hair. It was the same color, the reddish brown that was different from most elves' fiery red, but it had grown. No longer was it the crew cut that was part of the job, nor was it the jagged cut she was trying to grow out, but it was almost waist length, wavy and silky to the touch." Hope that helps. Lol

* * *

**Recap**

"Don't call me Julius!" Commander Root roared, storming out of the room while Foaly added, "Well, it _is_ your given name."

"Temper, temper," Foaly tisked. He had to admit though, he was worried about Artemis and Holly. Why didn't he know? Why wasn't the iris cam showing up on his screen? He had tested it before with a bug he had shoved into that machine, and it had worked. Ugh, he hated putting himself down. Time to go get some carrots. And some beetle juice. Make that a couple cartons of carrots, cans of beetle juice, a petition to get a raise, a better budget. He could use this incident to get a better budget. He could say that the lack of money caused this whole thing.

**End of Recap…Now on with the story!**

* * *

Holly, who was forcefully dressed into Juliet's most extravagant dress, grumbled as she strolled down the steps. The Nurse forced her to wear a red dress, which not only clashed horribly with her hair, but an added bonus was that it came with a device that made her unable to breathe. It wasn't a corset, since those didn't come in for about 100 years, but it hurt terribly. The dress was big and puffy, and heavier than she could imagine, at least thirty pounds with all the petticoats and stuff. It didn't show anything, even the sleeves were long enough to cover her hands. _I guess some people are worried about their 'staying pure.' _Her hair was accessorized in every way back then, but still down and wavy. Her eyes were decorated with primitive cosmetics, and feet in their flats. Since her dress was long enough, it wasn't like anyone would see them anyways, right? 

The people at the party were in similar attire. The other women, both young and old, wore dresses in identical cuts, but in different shades and hues. The men wore puffy shirts with matching tight pants. _The fashion back then for men was disgusting_, Holly thought. With Lady Capulet pushing her into the crowd, soon Holly stepped into the courtyard, lit with many candles and torches, creating a flickering light. The music started, and following her mother's lead, she started moving with the music. After all, Holly Short never _danced_ in front of people.

* * *

Artemis followed Mercutio and Benvolio, masked like his fellow kinsmen, into the Capulet estate, mulling over what would happen that night. Of course, he knew, he would meet Juliet, whoever she was, fall in love, and then meet her later at the balcony of her room. Artemis pondered then over the identity of Juliet Capulet. Would she be this beauty, with flowing hair and enchanting eyes? He knew that somehow, this Juliet would stop him in his tracks, for some reason. In the play it would be because of her beauty, but for Artemis it could be otherwise. He still hadn't seen Holly yet, and after more than twelve hours lacking her feisty presence life was getting boring. He hadn't gotten teased, punched, or even received sarcasm in this time period. How could people survive? 

As Artemis thought about how boring life was, the music started and people around him started to dance. A young teenager, maybe fourteen, pulled him onto the dance floor and started questioning him.

"Who are you?" the girl asked in a curious tone.

"Someone you don't know," Artemis replied wittily. It wasn't Holly's voice, and it didn't sound like someone flattered by him would say, so he was safe.

"Can I get to know you, sir?"

"What do you mean by get to know?"

"Dance, talk."

"I guess…"

Artemis danced with the girl somewhat clumsily. When his parents had forced him to go to social events, he would always talk with his parents and their friends about politics and the like. Occasionally his parents would force him to dance with another millionaire's daughter, most of whom were fairly educated but not a mental challenge to him. He could read their expressions and dive into their open minds easily. Soon the instruments paused and Artemis whirled around, saying good bye to the girl. He saw someone, though, who caught his eye. She was wearing a red dress, and her auburn waves of hair were cascading down her covered back. It looked like Holly, but it wasn't. The girl was too, too feminine, and Holly, Holly was this girl, this woman who didn't take anything from anyone. She wouldn't wear a dress unless someone paid her a million bucks. And the only person who could pay her a million bucks would be the only human she knew, Artemis. And Artemis wouldn't pay to see Holly in this elegant dress that exaggerated her um, assets, right?

He started muttering his version of the speech that would trigger Tybalt's suspicions that a Montague was at the party, all the while debating whether or not if he should go see if the girl was Holly.

_What if it wasn't her? Then the girl would just look at me as if I was some freak and walk away? What if it was the real Juliet Capulet, the girl I was, I mean, am, supposed to fall in love with? But what if it was Holly? Would she be happy to see me, since I am the only person in the entire world right now who knows her real identity, since she wasn't even born yet? The only fairy familiar to her would be Root, whose probably out there somewhere yelling at people. Wait, he wouldn't have been a commander yet! He'ld probably be a private, too. I wonder if Holly wants to see if she can sneak back into the fairy world. I wonder where the hell Holly is! I wonder if Foaly knows that I'm gonna kill him when I get back. Maybe that's why he put me here, cuz he knows Romeo kills himself and since I'm assuming the role of Romeo he wants me dead. That idiot centaur!_

The girl who had caught his eye earlier shook him out of his stupor. At that moment, Artemis knew it was Holly. No other girl's grip could ever be so strong.

"Holly? Is that you?" he whispered.

"Artemis?" the girl now known as Holly replied, "Yea, but now I'm Juliet Capulet in this bloody world."

"You're Juliet? Holly, surely you know where we are, and I'm Romeo."

At that moment Holly had a look of confusion on her face. "No, I don't," she admitted, red covering her cheeks.

"You don't?"

"That's what no means, Artemis," she replied sarcastically.

"No, really?" he sighed in return. _Well, at least one thing will stay the same about he even if she is in a dress: her fiery personality. _"Holly, we're playing the roles of Romeo and Juliet from William Shakespeare's play. Surely you know who they are?"

"I think…" Holly paused before a flash of recognition appeared. "Wait a minute, isn't that…"

"That's the play where two people from rival families fall in love and kill themselves."

Holly paled, which was now not so hard a feat with her pale skin. "So we, we have to fall in love? And kill ourselves?"

"Yes, Holly."

"Well, um…can't we…"

"Can't we…"

"Just kill ourselves so we don't have to 'fall in love'?"

"Always the optimist, aren't you, Miss Short?"

"It's Holly. And, well, I don't know about you, but I can't see us in love, even if we're just acting like it."

"Acting is a whole lot different than actually meaning it."

"Well, what do the people in the play based off of this do tonight?"

Artemis blushed, red showing up on his also very pale cheeks. "Lets see, Holly, they kiss, fall in love, stuff like that." _Stuff? Gosh, even more slang._

"Hold on, we have to kiss?"

"Or at least make it look like it."

"What _kind_ of kiss, Mud Boy?"

"I suggest you stop using the term 'Mud Boy' to address me, especially now that you are one of the human race, even though only in appearance, and besides, I never really understood the irony of you, fairies who live underground in the 'mud', calling those who live above it in houses 'Mud People."

"Artemis, anyway," she continued, scared of the thought of having to kiss _Artemis _of all people, "What type of kiss?"

"What do you mean, what type of kiss? There's different types?"

"Haven't you ever watched a romantic movie, or any television at all?" Holly, trying to suppress a laugh, couldn't believe her ears. _The know-it-all Artemis, who knows so much about everything else, knows nothing about love? He has to learn someday though. I, however, hope I don't have to teach him. He's a human, after all, and I'm, I'm a fairy, an elf, as much as I don't look it. And I don't love him as anything except for maybe, maybe as a friend._

"Of course I've watched documentaries and that sort of thing."

"Anyway, there are several different types of kisses. Kiss on the cheek, kiss on the lips, French, peck, you know. Wait, you don't!" Holly blushed while she stated the facts, and looked down, smoothing her dress.

"Thanks for being so blunt."

"Not a problem. When do we have to kiss?"

"You make it sound like you want to be kissed by me."

"Hell, no…I just want to get it over with."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now answer the D'arviting question, Mud Boy!"

"In the next two minutes or so, I think. On the lips, too."

"Oh joy. Now you're making it sound like _you_ want to be kissed by me."

"No. Like you said, I want to get it over with."

"Should we just do it now?"

"I was about to say that."

Holly tossed her hair back, and closed her eyes as Artemis quickly kissed her on the lips. It was nerve wracking, especially since it was with Artemis. Her eye twitched, and Holly remembered the iris cam. _Oh, Frond, what if Foaly is recording this? I am sooooo dead. But he's gonna die **first. **Or is Artemis?_

Quickly he pulled back, and stumbled away, embarrassed. It was the first kiss for Artemis, and the first flirtatious or romantic action he had taken with any girl. And it was with his second friend who was a girl, Holly. The other was Juliet, and she would have decked him and rendered him unconscious for a couple hours if he had even suggested it. Holly, on the other hand, as much as she liked to punch him, let it take place. Did she like him? Or did she just want to let things happen and then run away and try to get out of this hell?

"Oh, God," Artemis said as he looked up.

"Artemis, a dog could kiss better than you," Holly replied, teasing to make this situation a bit less serious.

"Well, no dog would want to kiss an _old_ lady like you." Artemis loved to tease back. Holly didn't look old though, quite the contrary. He just remembered her mentioning her father dying when she was sixty, which was over twenty years ago, so she was around eighty. And humans rarely lived past their eighties, so technically, she was really old.

"I'm not old!"

"Isn't eighty old?"

"In this world, but not in the fairies'. Besides, here I'm thirteen."

"Well, um," Artemis thought of a comeback, but someone interrupted the two's teasing.

An elderly woman covered in grey walked over and spoke to Holly. "Madam, your mother needs to talk to you."

Holly waved good bye as she walked away.

"In case you're wondring' sir, her mother is Lady Capulet, married to the one who owns the estate. I nursed her daughter, whom you talked to just now, and the one who can marry her will receive a reward."

"What kind of reward?" Artemis, always looking for opportunities to keep his family one of the richest in Ireland, wondered what treasure he could bring back and sell.

"Money, sir. Gold coins."

_Gold coins! Those are probably worth thousands, if not millions, back in the future. The possibilities…_ "She's a Capulet?" Artemis replied, paraphrasing his lines, "Oh no!"

The nurse left, and Benvolio walked up to Artemis, waving the nurse away. "Be gone!"

Lord Capulet walked around, saying, "Come on, everyone, let's go, there's food in the other room, thank you for coming. When you have finished eating, please allow yourself good byes. It is very late, and I am going to bed."

_So much for even thinking without distraction_, Artemis grumbled. He had to find Holly.

* * *

Holly, groaning after Artemis kissed her, walked back to her room. 

_Oh my Frond, I can't believe that idiot mud boy put his lips on me! And does he expect me to believe the whole thing with the play? Was it some bull that he made up to distract me? I know it's a real play, but it couldn't be real. It couldn't have happened. But what if it did? But still, did he want to kiss me? I didn't want to kiss him, that's for sure. We're barely friends, nothing more. And it'll always be that way. Does he like me? Why, if he does? Is it cuz I'm something he'll never have? _

Holly shook her head, ashamed at her mean comment. Sure, she didn't like Artemis, but he wasn't that bad of a person, not to mention he had the cutest eyes. Those blue eyes made you wanna look at them for hours. Holly had realized that particular bit of information about Artemis when he had shaken her in the Arctic. She had punched him after that, but that was the fun about being around Artemis: he could never fight back if she hit him. She was happy he didn't get mind wiped, though, because he provided adventure the fairies would never have otherwise. The whole thing with the cube was fun, though risky. But what was policing without risk?

The annoyance Juliet called a Nurse walked in. At first she stood there, as if waiting for her to say something, which made Holly wonder.

"Come on, lets go upstairs," she said.

Holly, once again grumbling, followed the nurse through the hallway, up the stairs, and into another room. The room was large, and she realized it was the room she had first found herself in. The canopy bed was still there, as was the large mirror, but the candles were lit this time, saturating the room with a flickering bronze and orange tinted light. She noticed a doorway, and saw through the lacy curtains that it led through to a balcony. _How romantic_, she thought, then stopped herself. _Who would be here to be romantic with? Artemis? Root as a private in the LEP? _She stopped her charade of sarcasm. She noticed the Nurse had left, and delighted in the lack of her presence.

But as she smiled and tousled her hair, she noticed someone with black hair climbing over the balcony wall.

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Please review! Was everyone in character? Was Holly too mean to Artemis? Was the teasing too much? Should they have kissed? Tell me, concrit me, even flame with substance if you have to. Just please review! 


	5. Planning at Such Great Heights

No authors note this week, too lazy. Thanks to all who reviewed!

* * *

Artemis walked to the back of the Capulet estate, where the living areas would be, pondering the night's events which were not over. How could Holly, one of the smartest women he had ever met, not know the play after she knew the role she had been placed in? And why was her reaction to the kiss so basic? She just teased him, as if barely anything had happened? Maybe she was in shock? Artemis hadn't wanted to, of course, after all, she was lil Holly Short, the officer from the LEP who loved to punch and tease him. And she hadn't the fondest feelings for him, after all, who would after holding someone hostage after kidnapping someone who wasn't supposed to exist? But she had healed all the people Artemis loved dearly. So that had to count for something. She was his friend, but he would never kiss her willingly. He would only kiss a person who he knew for a fact loved him. And Holly couldn't love him, the smart aleck, the prick, the unemotional prat, the teaser, the know it all, the athletically challenged Artemis when she was so honest, open about her feelings, athletic, quick thinking, smart but with so much self doubt, agile, so beautiful.

_Wait? _Artemis thought. _Where the hell did that come from? Sure, she's black widow pretty, her hair would be hot if it was longer… Whoa, hold on. What the heck am I saying? This is Holly I'm thinking about, Holly who is a fairy, not a human, a fairy. What was I thinking? How could I even think about Holly in that way when I didn't even want to kiss her? _Voices interrupted Artemis's train of thought before he could continue, and Artemis struggled to climb over the wall.

"Romeo! Romeo!" a voice Artemis recognized as Benvolio said.

"He probably went home," another voice, Mercutio's, replied.

"He ran over here, and climbed over the wall. Yell for him, Mercutio."

"If you so insist. Romeo! Romeo! You crazy man! Answer me!"

"You'll make him mad by calling him a crazy man."

"This wouldn't make him mad, cuz he is crazy, crazy in love."

"Lets look some more, he's probably behind those trees. The darkness just makes it hard to find him."

"Romeo, good night, for we cannot find you, so off I go."

"Let's go."

At that point, the voices stopped and Artemis started looking for a balcony so he could talk to Holly. After rounding corners, he spotted one that was next to a large tree and covered with vines. It was a very romantic environment, if there was anyone to have romance with. Clambering up the stony wall, he saw Holly staring at him. She walked over, and helped him up onto the actual balcony instead of him having him hanging off the walls. _Funny, _Artemis thought as she pulled him up_, a person would have thought she would rather see me just hang there with my weak arms than help me._

"You know this is only part of the play, right?" Artemis inquired, whispering so only Holly could hear in case there were any nosy people in the room.

"Thanks for telling me," Holly replied, also whispering.

"Right now Romeo serenades Juliet with a sonnet about her beauty, but I really don't want to right now because it's- -"

"Cuz it's me?" Holly replied, slightly perturbed.

"No, because it's really long. In the book it's about two pages long, and I'm sure you would rather help me try and figure out how we get out of here than listen to me on how much Romeo loves Juliet."

"No, Artemis, I would much rather you talk to me about how beautiful I am, cuz we all know _I _need a confidence boost, unlike _some_ people," Holly smirking as she stated this in a sarcastic tone.

"Anyway, later in the play we have to get married, and…"

"_What_? I have to marry _you_? Oh, Frond, kill me now."

"Thanks, Holly, I feel so much better now. Back to the plan."

"When did you make this plan of yours?"

"Walking here to see you."

"But I thought you came here because you had a plan."

"No, because of what we're supposed to do, known as the balcony scene."

"Tell me the D'Arviting plan!"

"After we get married, you get engaged to Paris, and you go to a man named Friar Lawrence and take this poison that puts you in a really deep sleep, making you appear dead. I, however, got banished and do not know about this and come back to se you dead and kill myself. You wake up and kill yourself."

"That's your plan? How nice and cheerful it is, too."

"No, that's what happens in the play. I was thinking that when you take the potion, I would come back and then make a small wound and take the same poison. I would fall so your hand heals my wound and then when everyone sees us, we appear dead. Later, we leave to go somewhere and try to find a fairy chute. Is Foaly alive?"

"How would we get to a fairy chute when we, as humans, aren't supposed to even know about the fairies? And how did you know I had my magic?"

"I had a cut on my hand from climbing the wall. A small cut, but when you pulled me up you healed it."

"How would a human get to a fairy chute?"

"I was thinking…"

Holly gasped, "That's amazing! Maybe I'll actually use sarcasm, too!"

"Holly, when you took your pill, did you notice anything unusual about it? Were there any markings on it?"

"Explain your theory first."

"Well, all medicine eventually wears off after it travels through the bloodstream for a while and such. Your pill has to wear off too, because even Foaly can't make something like that last forever from a pill. Can you remember anything about it?"

Holly paused, reminiscing on what had occurred mere hours ago but had seemed so long ago. _Let's see, um, Foaly had taken me into the back room and given me a pill. Well, duh, Artemis knows that, but what did the pill look like? Oh, Frond, I wish I had a photographic memory! I think it was blue or purple. But that's not what counts…or is it? He's not really clear about what he wants._

"It was either blue or purple."

"Ok, but was there anything on the pill? Like any engravings?"

Holly went back to straining her memory. _Um, when I swallowed it, it wasn't smooth, so there had to be something on it. Well, that's helpful. What was the engraving though? I know I stared at that pill for maybe thirty seconds trying to weigh the possibility that Foaly, who was my friend, was doing something almost evil, or would this actually be useful? And it was useful, but I'm **still** gonna kill him when I get back. **If** I get back. How will we get back? The bloody machine isn't here, so how could Foaly bring us back?_

* * *

**Operations Booth, one day after the switch**

Foaly, who currently was lazily watching things from the security cameras all over the LEP Headquarters and the outer perimeter, pondered the success of his machine. He couldn't receive footage, neither audio nor visual, from where they were in Verona, Italy and so he was kind of worried. Holly had feelings for this Mud Boy, friendship and maybe beyond, and her Stockholm syndrome after he released her was slightly unnerving. She hadn't wanted him mind wiped, he knew that, but why? He wasn't mind wiped, and now they were lost in time together.

"Foaly!" Root roared from somewhere near the booth.

"Yes, Julius?"

"My cigar dispenser is broken _again_! And so is my computer!"

Foaly sighed. Some things would stay the same even after hundreds of years, yet some things changed in seconds. He trotted up to Root's office, seeing the elf angrily tap his fingers impatiently.

"Ok, Julius, what did you do now?"

"Don't call me Julius!"

"Okay, what happened?"

"It's jammed again and my computer won't let me go to the 'pop virtual bubble wrap' site. This memo comes up." Root gestured to a sign on the computer that stated in big bold green letters, "Does this have to do with the LEP? I suggest that you, sir, go back to work." Foaly had installed the virus himself, for the sole pleasure of annoying Root. He had to have _some_ fun at work. He had also made it irreversible, so he couldn't go back on his decision. And so far, it was worthwhile.

"You need to leave, I need concentration when I'm working," the centaur said.

"Fine," he grumbled.

Foaly took about ten minutes to 'fix' Root's computer. Actually, he sat there and fixed the dispenser. He had set the dispenser so only a certain amount could be dispensed each hour, only five. After he 'fixed' it, a.k.a. waited for the hour to finish up, he walked out.

"Well?" Root asked.

"Fixed the dispenser…not the computer. Sorry."

"What! I need the pop the virtual bubble wrap site! I don't yell as much after I use it!"

_This had it's benefits_, Foaly thought_, but it's funnier to see him like this and him not being able to do anything about it. Poor Root…wait, did I just say poor? I need to make him madder. _

"Sorry, it seems to be something permanent. I know _I_ didn't install it, maybe Koboi did back when she had the monopoly of LEP technology."

"You're supposed to be the best computer geek on the planet! Cant you fix one D'Arviting problem?"

"I prefer the term computer technician, Julius," the centaur sighed.

"I'll call you whatever the hell I want to call you! Don't call me Julius, dammit!" His face was red, too red, Foaly realized. Maybe now he would explode?

"Ok, whatever. I'm gonna go try to fix the reception from Holly's iris cam."

"I thought you weren't getting any reception in the first place."

"Exactly."

"Go, then. No, wait." Root looked lost in thought, a rare thing for the commander who let others think for him.

"What?"

"Do you think Holly's okay?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Its just she's alone, as a human, and stuck with her least favorite Mud Boy."

"I don't even know if they're in the same time period. I just know they're in the same place. That's why I could use the visuals from the iris cam. Maybe I should have given her a mike, too."

"Wait! You didn't give her a mike?"

"No."

"You dumb ass centaur!"

"Whatever. The real question is, are _you_ worried about Holly?"

"A little," Root admitted. "Its just there's no way back until you figure out something. And from what you said, she's human now, and she does not gonna like that."

"She did fine at her initiation, and during the Fowl siege and everything."

"I know. See ya, Foaly."

"Ok, then. Bye…Julius."

Foaly managed to get himself safely into the booth before Root could shout back at him. He tried to upgrade his receptors so they could receive things from all time periods, but he realized it was impossible, especially if they were in a time where there was no technology. The only way the centaur could get in touch with them would be to go back himself. But if the machine stayed in the same place, then there was no way he could come back. But that machine had been there for hundreds of years. Maybe where they were they could somehow get back here and convince the Foaly then to let them use it? It just depended where they were, cuz Holly's pill to make her human would wear off…

* * *

**Back to Verona, Italy**

Holly had been thinking for about a minute when something came to her. She recalled staring at the pill, the dark color letting a white marking stand out. It was an English number, she realized.

"There was a white "two" on it," she recalled.

"What could that two mean?" Artemis pondered.

"Maybe," Holly thought, "How long it would last?"

"But how long? It's obviously not 2 hours; you would be a fairy once again by now."

"Two days? Two weeks? Two months? Two years? Two decades? Two…"

"If you swallowed it, the most it could last would be a couple days, and since it said 2, then you have two days. Unless…"

"Unless, what? Wait, maybe we'll both go back after the pill wears off."

"I don't know. But unless Foaly somehow slowed the time it would take for the pill to dissolve, the most we have is two days to get away from here, somewhere where people can't see you as a fairy."

"I could pose as a child."

"Not with your ears, among other things. If Foaly managed to slow down the dissolving process, we have two weeks, maximum."

"Well, we'll see tomorrow, wont we?"

"I suppose. We both better be somewhere isolated so no human can see you in your, ah, normal state."

"Where are we supposed to meet?"

"Well, um, why don't I come and take you somewhere?"

"Like a date?"

"Why would you think I would ask you, of all people, on a date?"

"Cuz you kissed me?"

"Because its part of the play, Holly," Artemis replied exasperatedly.

"Well, we could've skipped that part."

"No, we couldn't have."

"Of course we could. People cut things out of stories and movies all the time."

"Anyway, I'll meet you here later. I know where we can go."

"What happens between now and when we 'kill' ourselves?"

"I get into a couple fights and kill two people."

"You? Fighting?" Holly snorted. "That'll be the day. Hopefully the people you kill are easy to beat. Who are you killing anyway?"

"A guy named Mercutio and your fiancé, Paris."

"You never said I got engaged."

"Well, you do. Now you know."

_I have to be engaged?_ Holly thought. _Oh, Frond, just kill me now. I wonder if his plan'll work. All the others did, but it's different here. He's acting different, and there's no Foaly, no weapons, and no definite way to get back. And what'll happen if we never get back? Are we destined to stay here, in the year 1397 as Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet? Destined to die here, in Verona?_

Artemis shook her out of her thoughts. "Holly, are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine," she lied. "Just thinking."

"Listen, I have to go. I have to go and talk to this monk."

"A monk? Isn't that one of those guys who copy passages from the Bible and pray all day? And about what?"

"About us."

"Like Holly and Artemis us? Or Romeo and Juliet us?"

"The latter."

"Juliet," someone called from within the house.

"Who's that?" Artemis whispered.

"Probably the nurse," Holly replied, "She's been following me around everywhere."

"Bye then."

"See ya later."

Holly took a last glance at Artemis as she went inside. He was slowly climbing down the wall, fear stricken. She allowed a small smile as Artemis left, and she walked into her room. The nurse poked her head in and said, "Go to sleep," and Holly, more than tired, collapsed on the bed. She didn't care that her dress must have weighed thirty pounds; all she wanted to do was sleep.

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Please review! 


	6. Black and Blue

Author's Note: I was doing more planning, to see how many chapters it will be, and a couple things changed. I'm still aiming for fifty thousand words, but it won't be as many chapters, I think. I really don't know chapter wise, because I try to keep my chapters in one act and using only one or scenes from _Romeo and Juliet. _It will also be hard once I'm off using the play and onto a completely different setting and stuff. Yes, it will go on past where Artemis and Holly "kill themselves." They still need to go back, don't they? I'm not saying any more though, you'll have to read –and review so I update- to find out what happens. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one, but everything in here is important: either to the _Romeo and Juliet_ part of the play or to past that. It would be considered filler for now, but it will be important later. 36 reviews!

Also, I wont be able to write very much due to a death in the family. Please don't threaten me to "update soon" because, well, I can't. I'm also working on writing right now, up until the last part I had written it already before I was banned, so now I'm kinda in a race between the reviwers and how fast I can type.

Thank you to Knight of the Eternal Darkness, -anon-anon-anon-, yamapi, sweetcandy, ShadowMagicks, Zarroc, and dark of the moon. I love you guys!

* * *

**Recap**

Holly took a last glance at Artemis as she went inside. He was slowly climbing down the wall, fear stricken. She allowed a small smile as Artemis left, and she walked into her room. The nurse poked her head in and said, "Go to sleep," and Holly, more than tired, collapsed on the bed. She didn't care that her dress must have weighed thirty pounds; all she wanted to do was sleep, even if dawn was only two or three hours away.

**End of Recap**

* * *

Artemis walked away from the Capulet estate stifling a yawn. He had dealt with lack of sleep before, but that was when he was planning, or rewiring a computer, or something that dealt with technology or schemes, not with actual physical exertion. It wouldn't be so bad if he could rest, but he had to stick to the plan. It also happened to be that he hadn't been able to sleep or even relax after the incident with Spiro, he had been sent straight to Haven and almost a day later he was here. He needed to sleep more than anything, but he had stuff to do.

He walked to the edge of the town, looking for some sign of a church or monastery. He saw a cross above the buildings, and slowly made his way towards it. Taking in nothing, he lost himself in thought once again. _God, I'm so tired. You would think, after all I've done for them, the fairies would at least let me sleep a little. I **did **save their world from a megalomaniac, prevent a goblin rebellion, and returned half of the gold I stole from them even though it was rightfully mine. _A small voice in his brain, maybe his conscience, said in response, _but you did steal it. And kidnap Holly. _He ignored his small self righteous self and went back to his complaining. _I may kind of regret kidnapping Holly, but I don't regret meeting the fairies. Without them, I would have never become who I am now. I would still be even more evil than I am now. I don't think I'm **that** evil now, but I still am considered a criminal. I need to plan. But we have kind of planned it out. It's just not perfect yet. And it's also pretty good that I came up with that on the spot. God, I love my brain._

Obviously Artemis wasn't too tired to still be conceited. Soon the cross was above his head and he strolled inside. No one was there, so he walked out the door to what looked like a garden. The early dawn was highlighted in the garden, plants and features arranged to show the pretty sunrise. The sun was just peeking out of the horizon, pinks and oranges blending together to form an artist's palette. The garden was well tended, and flowers and vegetables covered mounds of soil. Grass surrounded the mounds, and it could have been a garden feature on television if there was a sprinkler or some form of irrigation. A stone fountain was the center, vines creeping up the column. Cobblestone paths were laid, archways covered with vines over the pathways. Artemis saw a tomato and grabbed it. He was starving, and the red juices filled his mouth as he gulped it down. He heard a noise behind him and he whirled around.

An old man was watering the flowers. He was old, his movements touched by arthritis and brown robes covering his hunched back. He was talking to himself, possibly praying for something, and hadn't noticed Artemis. Artemis ate several more little tomatoes, then turned to the monk, who had to be Friar Lawrence, who played a considerable part in Shakespeare's play. The friar turned and noticed Artemis.

"Hello, there, Romeo," he greeted.

"Morning, Friar."

"It is nice to see someone your age up at such a wonderful time. But after hearing the tales of your late sleeping, I wonder why you came. What ails you? Is it Rosaline?"

"No, Friar."

"Does it have to do with love then?"

"I suppose, father."

Artemis knew he had to pretend he loved Holly in order for the plan to work. He wasn't a born actor, but he had to be convincing for the Friar to allow certain things to happen.

"Well, who do you love?"

"Holl- I mean Juliet Capulet, daughter of my parent's enemy."

"Why do you love her?"

_Oh, shoot. _Artemis thought. _Think, boy, think. _"Well, uh…" Artemis blushed. "She's, ah, very beautiful and has a wonderful personality. She lights up the room with her presence." He knew it wasn't very convincing word wise, but he tried to hoist a look of daydreaming and hope on his face.

"And what do you want me to do about this?"

_Oh, God, kill me now.. _"I need you to marry me and Juliet."

"Very well. I will ponder it."

The old man left, leaving Artemis to chide himself over his horrible performance. He walked out of the monastery and the garden, and headed for the center of the town.

_Gosh, that was horrible. You would think a genius could be smart enough to think up something that would make him seem like he was in love. Oh, well. He said he'd think about it. That's good enough, I suppose. What am I supposed to do now? Artemis paused, thinking about the play, recalling pages of pages of text with his photographic memory. Oh, my God. I have to fight. And kill someone! Wait, but first… _Artemis remembered what happened first, and grimaced, but couldn't get his mind off of the fact that he, Artemis Fowl the Second, had to kill someone.

Artemis remembered the conversation with Holly he had with her about Spiro.

"_I'm not a cold blooded killer!" _he had said.

"_Give yourself a few years. You'll get there."_

The conversation had gone something like that, and now, merely three days later, he would have to kill someone. And another person later. People he had never met, people he didn't know anything about.

The thirteen year old soon found himself in the center of the town. Mercutio and Benvolio were there, talking.

"Bonjour, Romeo, bonjour! See, Romeo? I can speak French."

_God, they're so naïve. But one's dying soon. _"Hello, gentlemen," he replied.

"Come on," Mercutio said, "Let's practice our swordsmanship. I heard Tybalt was coming through this way, and a fight'll probably happen, knowing him."

"Yes, yes" Artemis replied nervously. He had never used a sword, let alone touched one. He would need all the practice he could get.

Benvolio took out a sword from his belt, and Artemis did the same. They clanged their swords, Artemis doing alright for a first timer, but still realized he would not last in a real battle like the one that was coming up.

"Gosh, Romeo, what happened?" Mercutio asked. "Are you so tired from last night you forget how to fight after we had taught you so much?"

"Extremely tired. Exhausted."

"Here, let me show you how to block. You're forgetting." Mercutio showed Artemis a complicated move, which he tried to copy, failing dreadfully. If the genius wasn't so worried about what was coming up, he would have blushed.

Artemis continued practicing, butterflies fluttering about his stomach as the time drew nearer for him to fight. He heard footsteps in the distance and mentally prepared himself. Soon though, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was the Nurse, accompanied by a young boy, maybe ten. No one would fight and kill in front of a lady, and this scrawny ten year old couldn't be Tybalt. And Tybalt wouldn't come before…

"Hello, Romeo" she said.

Artemis waved Mercutio and Benvolio away, waiting until they left before returning the greeting. "Hello, Nurse. Why have you come?"

"To talk, sir, about the woman you love."

"You mean Juliet?"

"Ah, yes."

"Could you please tell her something for me?" Artemis inquired.

"Yes?"

"Could you have her meet me at the monastery of Friar Lawrence this afternoon, maybe around three?"

"Why is that?"

"I cannot say."

"I have my suspicions, Romeo, and let me warn you. Do not break this girl's heart. She's thirteen, she has great potential in this world. If you break her heart, I promise you that you will pay."

"I won't."

"Good."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Bye, then." The nurse said. "Come on, Peter," beckoning to the scrawny boy who was looking through a window."

Artemis stood there, preparing himself for what could be hell. He was safe, for now, but soon he would become what Holly had predicted: a cold blooded killer.

* * *

Holly, currently sleeping like the dead, had no idea about Artemis. She wasn't even thinking about Artemis, in fact, she was dreaming about being back where she was born, back in Haven, where she had her pointed ears and shorter height.

_Walking through the streets of Haven, the Captain Holly Short was on patrol. It was strange, since normally they had Corporals to do this work, but yet there she was. She wasn't directing, though. No one was around, just her. It looked the same, save for the lack of people and noise. Except…the headquarters weren't there._

_Curious, the Captain turned the corner, and the same situation was upon her. Silent shadows in this deserted area, and there wasn't a sign of a single fairy. Except for her, of course. No lights were on in a single building, even though this area of Haven had many apartment complexes, town homes, and in turn had a high population. _

_She glanced at the sky, or what counted as the sky when you lived five thousand feet below the surface. It still had its lights, mimicking the sunlight of where the fairies used to reside. _

_She walked away from headquarters, away from what was so desolate, hoping to find something that was normal. She tried to figure out what had happened to cause a city with a population of over three hundred thousand to become this way. Holly realized there must have been no one there, for it to be so quiet. Homes weren't that soundproof, with her helmet magnifying every noise there must have been something heard by now, if there was anyone there._

_After several minutes of the only noise being her almost muted footsteps, finally she picked up something. Voices, blurred together, probably because they were some distance away. Holly guessed the noise was to the east of her, to her left, since she was heading south. She started to run towards the voices, hoping for some life beyond hers, hoping for something to become normal. _

_Cutting through yards and jumping over fences, she ran to the voices, looking down and only glancing up to situate herself. But then, when she looked up, once again on the road…_

_There was wreckage, there was destruction. A building, bombed by the looks of it, was collapsed on the ground, concrete foundations broken and scattered across the street. Glass shards, broken bricks lay among the wreckage._

"_D'arvit," she whispered, eyes wide from the shock of seeing something like this._

_Once she had stared and taken it all in, she remembered the voices. Maybe they would tell her what had happened, maybe they could tell her why no one was here. Were they dead? Sick? Or just somewhere else, hidden? _

_She heard the voices again, this time coming from the southwest. The people were moving, and Holly **had** to catch up. She had to figure out what was going on._

_Sprinting towards the unknown, finally Holly paused for breath. The voices were close, much louder now, and Holly, being the agile runner she was, could easily catch up; they were in walking distance now. _

"_Hello, there," a deep voice said._

_Holly looked up. There was a human, there, staring at her. He was at least six feet in height, looking menacing, and had blond hair and green eyes. It wasn't Artemis, or Butler, or a Fowl. Humans were never supposed to be here, let alone know about the place, with the exception of Artemis, Butler, and Juliet. He was there, and surrounded by other humans. _

"_Who are you?" Holly asked, trying to keep a threatening tone in her voice, but failed. Her voice was shaking._

"_Someone. But the real question is, what are you?"_

"_Someone else," Holly replied. Two could play at this game._

"_Well, Miss, ah, Captain Short, surely you are wondering where everyone else is."_

"_Who are you, really?" Holly inquired, no longer nervous, but angry. "And how did you know my name?"_

"_Let's say I have my connections. But, to cease your wondering, let me tell you this. You, Miss Holly Short, are the only fairy alive. And I, one of seven billion humans alive, am here to make a deal."_

"_Why did you kill us?"_

"_Who said I killed them? Gases killed them, and yet, you survived. How?"_

_Holly recalled that she had been at Fowl Manor the previous day. She had taken a pod home, and then she was here. Of course, this was all in her dream, but she didn't know that. To Holly, this was reality. Nothing this clear could be a dream. Not when she could smell a scent of smoke, not when she could hear her footsteps, her heavy breathing so clearly. No dream was that realistic!_

"_Why do you care?" No one had a right to kill fairies! No one had a right to even know about the fairies! Rage coursed through her, and she had to make this right. She had to make sure this wasn't real, even though to Holly it was. _

"_Oh, believe me when I say I care. Now tell me, what do you prefer?"_

"_What are you saying?"_

"_Let me finish. Help me, or suffer the consequences." He bent down to her level. "Surely you know what the consequences are?"_

"_Fill me in. And why would I help a Mud Man, anyway?"_

"_I wont be the Mud person," he said, an evil glint in his eye. "You'll be the one six feet under, buried in the Mud."_

"_You're going to kill me then?"_

"_Or would you rather help me?"_

"_I'd never help a Mud bastard like you," Holly answered defiantly, hands on her hips._

_The man pulled out something black, something with a trigger. Holly had never liked to run away from a situation, but now she could. She couldn't though, there was a large gold piece on this gun. Mesmerizing gold. Brilliant gold. She couldn't take her eyes off it._

"_Like my gun then?" the Mud Man asked, pulling her to it, her head pressed against the barrel. _

_Holly, who now couldn't see the gold, realized she had to get away. But she couldn't. The Mud Man's grip was too strong. Struggling, all the while the Mud Man chuckled, cocking the gun. He pulled the trigger- - - - _

Holly sat up, drenched in sweat, ready to scream. She saw the canopy surrounding her bed, and she remembered where she was. Thank Frond that was a dream. It was so real though, but it wasn't. She was still alive, and still apparently Juliet Capulet from Verona, Italy, thirteen in 1397. For the first time, she was happy she was a human. But this dream made her wonder. Was something happening back in the year 2003? Was the fairy world in turmoil? Or even worse, dead? If she went back, would she and Artemis find a Haven deserted and bombed?

The girl shuddered. In that dream, one of her worst nightmares had occurred. The fairy world discovered by humans, the fairies all dead, and she the only one left. She had had dreams like that happen, but not like this. Holly had never, ever in her eighty three years of life had a dream like that so vivid. Not one that she could remember, anyway. And vivid dreams are the ones you remember. _Man, _she thought, _why can't my **good **dreams be vivid? Like the one-_

"Juliet?" the nurse asked, not even bothering to knock, just walking in and opening her drapes. "It's noon, and you're still asleep?"

"I was, until now," Holly grumbled.

"Well, I'm glad you're awake. Guess who I had a conversation with this morning?"

"Who?"

"Romeo."

* * *

Author's Note: I did stop here, not for a cliffhanger, but for another important reason. The next two scenes of Romeo and Juliet are in the next chapter(and those of you who know the play well know what's coming up ;-) and those who don't, well, even more suspense. Lol) And what's in between the acts is after that. Please review! A ffnet writer writes faster, and better when they review, even if its criticism. Criticism, constructive criticism anyway, helps writers improve their story. And yes, that dream Holly had was important. Not for a couple chapters anyway, but soon. So please review! 


	7. Dream On

Author's Note: This chapter is really short, because it has to tie in with the next chapter, which I will try my best to make at least ten pages. It has a lot happening, so I think it will make the ten page mark. If I added it in, it would be too little chapters for something to happen, and the chapter would be more than fifteen pages long. I don't know about you, but my attention span doesn't go more than reading fifteen pages, unless the plot is really good. 43 reviews! Soooo happy! By the way, I wont update until I finish reading the much anticipated HBP. I updated right before my family goes to get it.

I just finished reading _The Opal Deception_, and I think that if I write another AF story it will be after that because Artemis and Holly have so much potential there! It probably is my new fave in the AF series except that Root died. I liked the ending, and I think Holly's gonna be a good detective. I know others disagree, but…

I also watched the newer R&J movie. Loved it. I luv Leo!

Thanks to Knight of the Eternal Darkness, ShadowMagicks, yamapi(thank you), and Kp -R0ck 4ng3l- Kp.

-anon-anon-anon-: YES its gonna be a romance!

Agivega: OMG, thank you for reviewing my story! And they didn't spend a night together ;-) I hope this smiley works on ffnet…it's a wink. Lol. Cuz in the balcony scene, Artemis kind of leaves out that part. But they DO get married. Which is the next chapter, by the way. I loved the Aztec Incident, which I do believe is the only AF story over 100,000 words. Cant wait for the sequel! I _would _read your HP stories, except I'm 13. lol.

* * *

**Recap**

"Juliet?" the nurse asked, not even bothering to knock, just walking in and opening her drapes. "Its noon and you're still asleep?"

"I was, until now," Holly grumbled.

"Well, I'm glad you're awake. Guess who I had a conversation with this morning?"

"Who?"

"Romeo."

**End of Recap**

* * *

Holly immediately sat up, curious to hear what the Nurse had to say for once. Why did she talk to Artemis? And what did he need? "What did he say?"

"He asked you to meet him at Friar Lawrence's around three. Why, I do not know. You'll have to see for yourself."

"Friar who?"

"Friar Lawrence, a monk here in Verona. His monastery is on Barichelli Street. I swear, Juliet, your memory has gone to the dogs."

"I just can't remember things, I'm sorry. Where's Barichelli Street again?" _Why would the Mud Boy want me there?"_

"By the town square."

_She expects me to know a town I've never been in before. Wait, she doesn't know I'm not Juliet, I'm Holly. _"Can you take me to the street?"

"I suppose. It'll hurt my back though. It's already hurt from this morning's expedition."

"Where was Romeo?"

"In the town square, with his friends Mercutio, friend of Prince Escalus, and Benvolio, his cousin."

"Why were you there?"

"Peter and I had to run an errand."

"What else did Art- I mean, Romeo, say?"

"Let me say this. He seems much in love with you."

Holly paled. _Artemis, in love with me? It couldn't be. He must be acting, cuz we're supposed to act like we are. How convincing was he? And what was this meeting about? _"Is that all?"

"That's all he said to me. Then I went to fetch something for your mother."

"Ok…"

The Nurse winced in pain. "Ow, that trip _really_ hurt my back. The problem with getting old, I guess, but it still hurts."

"How old _are_ you?"

"I don't give away my age. Sorry."

"Fine."

"Well, come on. I have to help you get dressed. You're still in a party dress."

"Ugh."

"I thought you liked dresses, Juliet."

"You thought wrong."

"A bit more respect to your elder, miss."

"Sorry."

The nurse helped Holly up, and showed her over to what looked like a fourteenth century closet. There were about ten dresses, most red or orange, but there was a pretty blue dress that Holly picked up. It was bright blue, soft, and looked like the kind of dress that puffed out when you spun around. Holly, tomboy that she was, loved those dresses. They were so much fun for dancing in the rain. She had been able to once, since the school she had attended had one field trip to the surface had taken her to the rainforest, and it was raining! Her school uniform was this type of dress, except it had the school emblem on it and much lighter.

"This one," Holly said.

"All right."

The nurse helped Holly into her dress, and then once it was suitably tight for the old woman, she pushed Holly into a chair, one that had the mirror in front of it. She combed Holly's locks, arranging them around her face. It took forever to Holly, but the result was good. Then the nurse proceeded to put several cosmetics on her face, which removed several of her freckles to Holly's dismay. Freckles to the fairies were a sign of wealth, because you had to go above ground to get your freckles, and you had to be rich or be in the LEP to be able to go to the surface often. It must have been some kind of fourteen century foundation.

"Finished," the Nurse said after what had been an hour.

"Finally," Holly groaned. She never spent more than five minutes with her hair, unless there was a party she had to attend, and rarely wore make up. This kind of beauty session would kill her if she did it everyday.

After the Nurse shot Holly a look, and Holly looked down, the nurse stated, "I'll bring you some brunch."

Yum. Food. Holly waited impatiently, hoping for something to her taste. After about five minutes, the nurse brought up a brunch of eggs with fried potatoes. Holly ignored the eggs, and just ate the potatoes, all the while wondering what the meeting was about.

* * *

Artemis, after excusing himself from more practice with Mercutio and Benvolio, headed for the food shops near the center of the town. They had practiced for hours, waiting for Tybalt to come. He would, the boy genius knew that, but not until after he married Holly. Artemis shuddered at the thought. Marry Holly, who was what, technically decades older than him?

Soon he spotted a shop open for business. He waited in line, searching for some kind of payment he could use to eat the food. Luckily in his outfit there were pockets, and in the depths of one were a couple gold coins. If Artemis wasn't so hungry, he would take these coins back to the future, but he would rather pay to keep himself alive with food.

After about five minutes, Artemis was at the head of the line and spotted an old fashioned menu. To his dismay, there was no caviar, but he didn't care, he was so hungry. This was quite unusual to the Fowl boy, since normally when it came to food he had to have the best quality food money could buy. No leftovers, no non-organic, and the like. He ordered something random off the menu and wolfed it down. He still had some coins left, so he bought something else and ate it on the way to the monastery.

After finishing his meal, he soon found himself once again at the monastery. He knocked this time, and saw Friar Lawrence answering the door, ushering him in.

"So this is a, ah, private wedding?" he asked.

_Right down to business, aren't you, _Artemis thought. "Yes, that's where it's just the bride and groom, correct?"

"Yes."

"Ok, that's it then."

"And so, where is the blushing bride?"

"She's meeting me here at three."

"It's only two now, Romeo."

"So what am I supposed to do for an hour?"

Friar Lawrence looked Artemis up and down. "I believe you should change into something more presentable. Here, the church always has donations for the, um, lower class, and even though you aren't lower class, Mr. Montague, they have a wedding outfit for someone your size."

Artemis groaned. Him, part of a billionaire Irish family, having to wear second hand clothes? Even the thought of it was disturbing! "Um, I guess," he replied hesitantly.

"Oh, I see. A Montague doesn't want to wear such paltry clothes when his family is one of the richest in Verona!"

Artemis nodded.

"Oh, well, Romeo, you shall have to deal. Come with me."

Artemis sighed and followed the friar. Life was _so _unfair. The friar handed him yet another puffy shirt and tight pants. This time, they were black. He sighed. He missed his Armani suits. At the end of this, he might even appreciate the clothing items he didn't wear, but the kind the majority of the teenage population did. After this, he wouldn't even mind those baggy pants he hated. He wouldn't mind looking like an advertisement.

The friar left and Artemis put on the ugly clothing. He noticed the clock on the head of the church. It said 3:00. Where the hell was Holly? Sure, he couldn't expect her to be on time, right at three in an unfamiliar town, but the hope of her arrival was enough to get Artemis from thinking about his horrible outfit.

* * *

**Fowl Manor, present day, right after the mind wipe**

Juliet found herself in a chair. Her eyes felt funny, and her mind felt groggy, which was strange when it was three in the afternoon. Looking around, she saw her brother in the same position, yawning, rubbing his eyes, then immediately alert. "Where's Artemis?"

Butler shook his head. Alternate memories of the previous day were already taking its place. He could remember driving Artemis to an airport, waving good bye. Lots of suitcases. He paused, letting his brain create the memories. "He's at that school. Giving a presentation and lecture on why the school should cut out its physical education funding and use it for science."

Juliet laughed. Now she remembered. "Typical Artemis. He hates gym, loves science, and thinks everyone should feel the same."

"Yep, that's Artemis for sure."

"You really should teach him about the importance of exercise."

"Me? What about you? You're better at that sort of thing than me. Remember, I got injured in that gun fight?" Of course, Butler meant the shot from Blunt, but since he remembered nothing of the incident, he just thought he got shot.

"The one where you were out for a couple days afterwards?"

"Yes. Why don't you teach him?"

"Cuz all he'll do is complain. The only kind of work out he gets is typing."

"Well you can tell him you'll beat him up or something if he doesn't be quiet."

"Beat him up? And why would I beat up someone weaker than me? There's no fun in that."

"Well, he needs to get some sort of muscle somewhere besides his fingers. I doubt he could even run a quarter of a mile," Butler replied, speaking from experience. He had to carry him halfway through. But little did they know, Artemis would be, as they stated, working out, since there was no bodyguard by his side.

* * *

Author's Note: Thought I should include that last bit, to fill in "plot holes." Please review, the next part will be much longer, I promise. It's the wedding! Mwuhahahahaha. Lol. 


	8. A Bittersweet Nightmare

Author's Note: So this is the wedding scene! Sorry for the long update, but the sixth Harry Potter book came out the 16th, and I had to read it. I have this huge long rant about how angry I was about the ending. So mad Harry broke up with Ginny and Malfoy didn't take Dumbledore's offer! Chapter dedicated to Agivega.

Thanks to Agivega, Cyberspace(I'm letting him swear in his own thoughts), EricaL, Redleef, Zarroc, ShadowMagicks, h2omelonnqa, and Rock 4ng3l(thank you, once again). OMG 53 reviews! Love you all soooooo much! I never expected to reach 25 reviews, let alone 53.

* * *

Holly, after eating breakfast and doing much thinking, left with the nurse at two thirty, wondering about this meeting. She racked her brain to see if Artemis had mentioned anything to do with a church. He had mentioned acting to be in love, suicide, and something else that she couldn't remember. This thing that she couldn't recall was probably what was about to happen, though, and she tried and tried to remember. She usually had a good memory, and this forgetfulness was _so_ frustrating!

The nurse was ahead of her, Holly mindlessly following. She walked through cobblestone streets, crossed fourteenth century crosswalks as carriages pulled people around and single riders rode their horses. She remembered how they had kissed, not for real, just in acting; and how they had stuck to this "plot" that Artemis had never cease to mention.

Holly felt a drop of water hit her cheek. Glancing at the sky, she saw an eerie grayness dropping down rain drops. It was raining! Holly was happy about that, she loved the rain and she was in a spinning dress! First checking to see the only one around was the nurse, Holly spun around, grinning. But this whole "dancing in the rain" could not shake her grey mood.

The cross was over Holly's head, and the Nurse said her good byes and kissed Holly on the cheek. She was then pushed into the church, the Nurse following behind.

Artemis tapped his foot impatiently. It was three fifteen, and it was raining. Where was Holly? She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago. He was here, alone, and bored.

The large wooden church doors opened, and a girl in blue walked in. It took Artemis a good thirty seconds before he realized it was Holly. To Artemis, the only way to describe her was beautiful, or maybe stunning. Her hair was arranged around her face, and it was obvious Holly didn't like how she looked. Holly may not have liked it, but Artemis did. He would never admit it though. It had gotten to the point where he liked her better as a human. He would never see her as a makeup and dress wearing elf.

Holly stepped up to Artemis. "What are we doing?" she hissed.

"Didn't I tell you?"

"No!"

"Well, Holly, we're getting married."

"What?" Holly, trying to suppress a scream and a punch at the same time, turned almost as red as Root, which was quite a feat since her skin was pale.

"That's why we're here."

"Do we have to?" She couldn't marry Artemis Fowl, she had her life ahead of her! Would this still count in 2003? She would never marry a Mud Man, even though she right now was one. She was still a fairy at heart, and always would be.

"Yes, Holly, we have to."

Holly sighed. This was a nightmare, much worse than that dream she had that morning. "Why?"

"It's important to the plot of the play," Artemis replied exasperatedly.

Holly glanced around, checking once again to make sure the area was deserted as her face reddened. "News flash, Artemis, this isn't a play! It's _reality_! And while you may think that this is gonna affect history, the play'll stay the same. So screw the goddamn plot, and let's just try to get out of here! I'm tired of wearing dresses, I'm sick of makeup, and I hate having to act like this! You may find this educational, but guess what, I'm _out _of school, and I don't care about some play that was written five hundred years ago, or, in this case, one hundred years in the future!"

Holly's face was unnaturally red, too much like Root's. Artemis shuddered. He had to make her less mad before he pointed out several things, even if it meant admitting something he never would before. "Well, Holly, just to let you know, you actually, ah, look, really, um, good in that dress and with your hair like that." Artemis blushed.

She softened. "Really? Thanks?"

"Welcome. And for your information-"

"Oh, joy."

"And for your information, the play is based on a legend. Shakespeare didn't come up with it himself."

"And what exactly would the impact be if the legend didn't happen?"

"Ah, well, Shakespeare wouldn't be as famous, two movies wouldn't have been made, and, um…" For the fourth time in his life Artemis was at a loss for words.

"So there _is _no impact."

"There is too."

"Ahem," a man's voice, unfamiliar to Holly, greeted.

"Yes?" Artemis asked.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, Friar Lawrence," Artemis replied.

"Um, well…" Holly said. Her mind was in turmoil. Never of her own free will would she ever marry Artemis Fowl, kiss Artemis Fowl, or just go back in time with Artemis Fowl. But here she was, about to do all three. "I suppose."

The friar straightened his back, and took Artemis to the altar. They conversed for a minute or two, then the Friar gestured to Holly. Holly had never felt so nervous in her life. In school, she never felt nervous about her classes, she was smart enough to get through honors classes without studying. In the LEP Academy, she was in her element, and no nervous feeling had shaken it once she realized that was what she was born to do, help the fairies. In the LEP, on various missions, she had felt fear occasionally, but she always persisted. During each incident with Fowl, she hadn't felt nervous. Fear, hesitation, rarely nervousness. Yet here, her stomach grumbled, she felt faint. But she knew she had to do it. Shaking her head, she finally walked up the aisle.

The steps she took felt like steps to death, steps to something irreversible and she couldn't do anything about it. She had hoped to get married one day, but she wanted to feel love for the fairy she married, the kind of love you dream to receive and feel. And the only thing Holly loved about Artemis was their friendship, and maybe, maybe his eyes.

Holly went up the stairs, finding herself on the altar with Artemis. _This is quite the wedding, _Holly thought, trying to relieve some nervous feelings, _no best man, no bridesmaids or maid of honor, no groomsman, no ring boy, flower girl, hell, not even an audience. This must be what an eloping is like, except usually the people eloping actually love each other. This feels like an arranged marriage, and it is, arranged by Artemis. One didn't want it, that was for sure, but did Artemis?_

She looked at Artemis, and he looked at her. And then the priest starting saying those fateful words. Fragments stood out in Holly's mind, the rest blurred. "In sickness and in health," he said. "Speak now or forever hold your peace he said. _I object! _

"Do you take Juliet Capulet to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the priest asked.

Holly glanced at Artemis instead of the lush carpet she had been staring at for several minutes. He was extremely pale. But he did say "I do."

The friar turned to Holly. "Do you take Romeo Montague to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I, I do," Holly stuttered.

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Holly freaked out, knowing what was next. The kiss. This was it. She, Holly Short, was married to Artemis Fowl the Second. Artemis approached her, and she closed her eyes. They had to prove they were in love in front of the priest. But why did they have to kiss?

When Artemis had kissed her the first time, it had been just a kiss on the lips, the pairs of lips barely touching, both hands to their sides. This time, on the other hand, he put his hands on the nape of her neck. And Holly, although she would rather die than admit it, had to say she was enjoying it…

* * *

Artemis felt like hurling. The priest had said the line right before where he would say I do, and here it came. It was pretty bad after hearing the "in sickness and in health" line, but this was the worst. No, wait, the second worst.

"Do you take Juliet Capulet to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Artemis had been paling successively throughout the entire wedding. By now he thought no more blood could leave cheeks. He felt himself pale even more, and said "I do."

The priest turned to Holly. "Do you take Romeo Montague to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

_She's shaking,_ Artemis discovered as he looked towards her, _guess she's not the only one freaking out. _

"I do," Holly stuttered.

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

The priest glanced at Artemis, and Artemis knew he had to prove his love. He knew Holly would kill him later, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to this that much either. God, why did he have to be trapped in a _love _story with Holly? He slid his hands behind her head, noticing how silky her hair was. He closed his eyes and kissed her.

Friar Lawrence watched the two. They seemed to love each other. Maybe not as most elopers, but enough. He admired the sweetness of love, and turned and left them a minute later to "enjoy" their marriage. Little did he know they were acting.

* * *

After a little over a minute, Holly broke the kiss, stepping back and looking at Artemis. He looked different in a way she couldn't describe. He looked…surprised, and astonished and something else she couldn't put her finger on.

The married couple stared at each other, both unwilling to break the silence. For a while no one moved, no one removed their stare.

"What is this, a staring contest?" Artemis asked.

"You were the one looking at me, Mud Boy," Holly replied.

"Because you were looking at me."

"Because you kissed me."

"Because, because," Artemis sighed, "Fine. You win."

"Yay!" Holly said sarcastically. "So can we leave now?"

"I guess."

The two left, Artemis leading the way onto the path he had first taken into the city. Holly saw the beauty of nature, and for the first time she felt at home. Trees surrounded her, no sign of human habitation. After about twenty minutes Artemis stopped, exhausted.

"We must have walked a couple miles," panted Artemis.

"Try one. How can you be tired? I'm wearing some kind of corset."

"These pants are really tight."

"No, really? It's not as bad as this corset."

"Whatever," replied Artemis, disheartened that he had lost one of their "battle of the wits" _again. _"We need to plan."

"To get out of here? YES!" Holly replied exuberantly, fist punching the air.

"Ok, what I was thinking was that, you know how after I get in a fight and kill your cousin?"

"Like that'll happen, but yeah."

"Well, in the play I meet you at your house."

"And?"

"Well," Artemis blushed, "One can infer that, well, um, they, ah-"

"They what?"

"Well, as newlyweds, they, um, take advantage of their marriage?"

"You mean they sleep together?" Holly said bluntly.

Artemis nodded, as red as he had been pale earlier.

"There is no way in _hell_ I am doing that. No way. Nothing could make me do that."

"I agree. As long as I am at your house, they will assume. And assumptions can go a long way here."

Holly still didn't like the idea of sleeping in the same room with Artemis, but it was still better than the same bed. "Fine. What else?"

"Well, I leave at daybreak, and then you go to Friar Lawrence and get this potion thingy, a substance that will make you appear dead to the average person here. It's a lot easily to fake death here, with no heart machines or CPR."

"How dead will I look?"

"Very slow, shallow breathing, almost no pulse, and you won't move."

"But won't my magic cancel it out?"

"It's too strong."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"While you are in your vegetative state, I will be in Mantua, 'clueless' of your whereabouts."

"But won't that friar guy tell you what's happening?"

"He attempts to. But I never get the letter. Some sort of interception."

"Then why does Romeo kill himself in the play."

"My servant, Balthasar, sees your funeral. And he tells me."

"You have a servant?" Holly inquired.

"Yep. Anyway, I go back, kill Paris when he visits you, and then see you dead and kill myself."

"Wait a second," Holly stated, "I just kill myself because you left?"

"No, I guess I forgot to tell you you're engaged to Paris. And afterwards, you wake up, see me dead, and kill yourself."

"Such an optimistic ending."

"Well, actually," Artemis declared in his "I know everything and you don't" tone, "the families resolve their feud."

"So that's what happens?"

"Yes."

"So what do _we _do?"

"Well, after you take that potion thing, I leave and go back, appearing depressed and such. We stay true to the play until when I kill myself."

"So you are going to kill yourself?" Holly exclaimed, "You can't leave me here in this hell!"

"No. If you would let me finish, you would find that I would take the same potion, but not as strong, so when you wake up in an hour or so I wake up as well."

"So it's a sleeping potion?"

"Yes. But very strong."

"And then?"

"We flee in the night to Mantua, and wait."

"For what?"

"For you to reveal your true self. It's apparently not two days, not two hours, so it's logically either two weeks, two months, two hundred days, two years, or two decades. Foaly probably couldn't make anything stronger, and I doubt he could create something lasting longer than a year, even for a fairy."

"Artemis?" Holly asked softly, "do you think Foaly can bring us back?"

"Of course," he replied at the same volume, "he's a technical genius, and if he can meddle with time once, he can meddle with it again." Of course, the Fowl was hiding his own doubts, that they would never get back, and Holly would remain a human. But hope kept Holly alive, and doing this. She would never agree to these things if she was like this forever! Holly smiled, and Artemis felt a strong pang of guilt. "Shall we get going? I have a fight to get into."

"I can get home myself."

"Not in this century."

"Fine."

The two walked in silence, Holly enjoying this bittersweet moment with Artemis. The rustling leaves in the summer breeze, the birds chirping, the wispy clouds in the sky, were enough to almost overcome what had happened, and what was about _to_ happen.

* * *

Author's Note: And the end of another chapter. I know it took me forever to write it, but I had other plans this week too. Please review, it would make my day. 


	9. A Kiss GoodBye

Author's Note: 61 reviews! Holy crap! I know the dialogue in the fight scene wasn't the best, but I tried to keep it paraphrased. It would take longer to write new dialogue, and Artemis wouldn't know what to say. And that little Greek part…heeheehee. I thought of that since I had to have _something _happen while they're in Mantua. And besides, I'm Greek. Lol. One of my reviewers, PrincessBob I think, said that I better have an awesome ending. And honestly, I'm ashamed to say, I have no idea on what the ending should be. I have ideas, but they all seem too dramatic, or already used. Lol. Maybe you should send me ideas to maybe make some ideas less dramatic or different. Chapter dedicated to –anon-anon-anon-.

Thanks EricaL, Agivega, chocolate smudge, Zarroc, -anon-anon-anon-, PrincessBob(I don't exactly understand why I suck…unless you were being sarcastic. I dunno, its really hard to use sarcasm on a computer. lol), Rock 4ng3l, and ShadowMagicks.

**Recap**

The two walked in silence, Holly enjoying this bittersweet moment with Artemis. The rustling leaves in the summer breeze, the birds chirping, the wispy clouds in the sky, were enough to almost overcome what had happened, and what was about _to_ happen.

**End of recap**

* * *

After dropping Holly off, Artemis doubled back to the town square, not thinking for once. If a thought _did _cross his mind, then it was about the upcoming scene. Killing a person was not on Artemis's to do list, but it had to be done. The only thing that made him even think about doing it was that he would die if he did not kill. And Artemis did not want to die at thirteen.

Mercutio and Benvolio were right where Artemis had left them a couple

hours ago, amazingly, still practicing their swordplay. While Artemis stood at another food stall to ease his hunger, the person the two had been waiting for all day, Tybalt, arrived, taunting them.

"Gentlemen, I need to speak with one of you."

"Only speak?" replied Mercutio, "Words aren't enough from a Capulet such as you, attach a blow to it."

"If you keep talking like that, then you'll get your way." The men had formed a circle, the two sides separated by at least three feet, but a circle nonetheless.

"But it's your way as well, considering that you're the one who loves fighting the most among us."

"Guys, you realize we're in the middle of the town square? If we are going to fight, couldn't we do it elsewhere?" Benvolio, the calm one on the Montague side, reasoned.

"I'm not moving until he does," Mercutio replied stubbornly.

Artemis gulped down the rest of his food and walked towards the group, feet moving without his consent.

"Fine then," said Tybalt, "here comes Romeo, he'll settle this mess."

Artemis looked at the man he would have to murder. He wore red, all red, which to Artemis indicated bloodshed, especially in a time like this. It was the Capulet color, but Artemis still didn't like it. The man was tall, over six feet to Artemis's five seven, and muscular. He had a look in his eye that said "Don't mess with me," and his sword hand was close to his belt, ready to grab it if necessary.

"Tybalt, you must be an idiot if you think Romeo is on _your _side."

Tybalt lunged forward, but one of his servants pushed him back. "Romeo," he growled, "the love I feel for you says this: you're a villain."

"Tybalt, the reason I have to not hurt you excuses my rage from such a comment." Artemis said calmly.

"This doesn't excuse the injuries you've given me. Therefore draw your sword."

Artemis gulped. This was it. He was about to watch someone die, then kill someone himself. Or maybe die instead? But he couldn't die. Could he? "But I never injured you," he said nervously, "so why should we fight?"

"Tybalt, why do you pick on Romeo so?" Mercutio said in rage. "I'll fight for him, and kill you as you deserve. So what is it, boy, shall we fight?"

"What would you hope to receive out of our fight?"

"One of your nine lives, cat. Fight, coward!"

"All right."

Tybalt drew his sword swiftly, too quickly for Mercutio, and Mercutio seemed to be on the defensive side, while Tybalt made repeated attempts to kill him. Tybalt struck Mercutio on the cheek, leaving a shallow slice there, and on the thigh, ripping black pants and dripping blood. Artemis felt sicker than he had in ages. He had to at least try to stop the fight, but he wouldn't be the one to do the dirty work.

"Benvolio, help Mercutio, help him! Sirs, the prince has banned fighting in the streets, he will kill us all if he catches us in such a brawl."

Artemis ran in front of Mercutio, defending him, but Tybalt struck Mercutio one last time, though this time right above the heart under Artemis's arm. It was a fatal wound, and Mercutio fell to his knees, wincing in pain. "Ow, that hurts! Damn you all! Did Tybalt leave me here like this, with no way to end the pain?'

"What, you're hurt?" asked Benvolio stupidly.

"No, no, not at all," the man replied sarcastically. "Someone go fetch a doctor."

"Be strong, Mercutio, it can't be that bad," Artemis replied, knowing it was worse but trying to cheer him up.

"Tomorrow I'll be dead, the wound is enough to kill me. Why did you try to stop us fighting, Romeo? I could've killed him."

"I thought it was the best option."

"Help me get to a hospital, Benvolio, help me ease this pain. Damn you all!"

Benvolio put his arm around Mercutio and assisted him out of the town square, Mercutio still muttering "Damn you all!" Meanwhile, Artemis was about to hurl, and he did so, not just because of the bloodshed, but because he knew what was next. He despised violence, and here he was in the midst of it. After about five minutes, Benvolio entered, out of breath and white faced.

"Romeo, Mercutio's dead!"

"All at a Capulet's hand, too, instead of old age or illness."

"And here comes the bastard Tybalt again, probably to gloat. And Mercutio wasn't even a Montague, just a friend of the Montague house and of the Prince."

Tybalt walked back into the town square, with a strut in his step and a smirk on his face.

"Tybalt," Artemis said, "You must die for your action, avenge Mercutio's soul!"

"You'll be the one dead, Montague."

"Really?" Although Artemis was shaking, he drew his sword and brandished it. A whole new air replaced his nervousness. He was Artemis the hunter, and he would win this fight. Tybalt drew his sword as well, and they fought. Artemis was on the offense, stabbing at the Capulet. Tybalt got his sword past Artemis's own twice, once on the shoulder, and once on the cheek. Tybalt paused for breath, and Artemis closed his eyes and thrust his sword where the murderer was.

Merely seconds later, he heard a voice amid the blackness. It was Benvolio's voice, and he was urging him to leave. "Romeo, you have to leave! They will kill you if they find you there."

"But why would he kill me if I killed a murderer who killed the Prince's kinsmen?"

"Go!" Benvolio shoved Artemis out of the town square and towards the Friar's monastery. And Artemis ran, running for Romeo's life, which now was intertwined with his own.

* * *

Holly had walked up the mansion's steps after Artemis had dropped her off, and she had to admit she was worried. She spent the good part of an hour fearing for his life, and wishing their goodbye had been better.

"_So will I ever see you again, Artemis?"_

"_Of course you will. I am named after a hunter, which should help me."_

_Holly managed a smile. "I hope it's enough."_

"_It will be. See you in a couple hours."_

_Artemis turned, heading for the town square, but Holly still had one more question. "Artemis? What are we going to do in Mantua for over six months?"_

"_Who says we have to stay in Mantua? As long as we're near that chute by the end of the two hundredth day, we can go anywhere. The United States is not an option, nor any America, but maybe we could see some part of Europe. Greece, maybe. I've always wanted to see my namesake."_

"_Not even Ireland?"_

"_I know it well enough. And we can see that any day. When would we see Greece unwesternized like that in 2003 or 2004? Ok?"_

_Holly nodded. "Bye then."_

"_Bye." _

_Holly kissed Artemis on the cheek and looked at those blue eyes one more time, and watched as he retreated towards the town square. Would she ever see him again?_

Her last thought as she saw him for maybe the last time was still flashing through her head. _Will I ever see him again? Or will his time here be in a coffin, or a mausoleum? If he did die, could Foaly bring him back? Or would he be stuck here, while the world wondered what happened to Artemis Fowl the Second? And his family wouldn't know what happened to him either. After a while, during winter break or something, they might expect him, and he would be missing. They would call the school, or the school would call his family, unless Foaly hacked into their computers and sent an email he was somewhere else or **mesmerized** them. Someone would figure out he was gone. But what if Foaly can't bring either of us back? The Foaly now might now have built it, but he would freak out if a human entered Police Plaza. It would be the first time, centuries earlier than expected. And would he believe us? Or would he send me to an asylum and him back to the surface to die?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Juliet, I have important news. Can I come in?"

Holly paled, but she replied, "Of course."

The Nurse walked in, pale as well.

"What's the news, nurse?"

"Oh, he's dead, gone and gotten killed, dead for the rest of time, dead to his family except in memory, dead!"

_Someone's spazzing. _"Who? Who's dead?"

"I can't believe Romeo, Romeo, it's just impossible, who would've thought Romeo could do such a thing?"

"Romeo?" Holly inquired, dumbfounded. "Romeo's dead? He can't be dead! Don't tell me Romeo killed himself, or got killed, please don't."

"I saw the wound, right in the heart, no scratches anywhere else, just that one wound which did so much damage."

"No! Not Art-Romeo! He can't be dead, there's no way!" Tears filled Holly's eyes. Artemis couldn't be dead! Not at thirteen with a life ahead of him!

"Why did Tybalt have to die?" the nurse wailed. "Oh, Tybalt, your cousin, killed before I die, Tybalt whose age was more than half of mine. Dead!"

"So Romeo's dead, and Tybalt as well? It can't be!"

"Tybalt dead and Romeo banished, which is as good as dead, my lady."

_Banished? So things went according to plan then?_ "Romeo killed him?"

"Yes, Juliet, yes! Shame on Romeo, that he could have such a deceitful seed in such a handsome face, who would have thought?"

"Who would have thought he killed someone? Romeo, that gentle soul!"

"Will you speak well of someone who killed Tybalt?"

"Will I speak ill of my husband? No! Not after only three hours of marriage! I would rather have a husband then my cousin who loved violence as much as Romeo loves me, and as I…" Holly paused, realizing what she had just said. _It's all acting, girl, all acting. You mean your love as much as Artemis does._

"Will you go see him?"

"I will, and cry over both Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment."

"Go back to bed. I'll go find Romeo."

The nurse left, tears falling from her cheeks, and Holly had a split mind. She was happy he was alive; just not exactly, ah, ecstatic at the fact that Romeo was spending the night with her. At least they weren't doing anything though, because Artemis was going to sleep on the _floor_ on the other side of the room.

* * *

Artemis was exhausted by the time he had gotten to the monastery, and would have liked nothing more than a long twelve hour siesta on a bed with an actual mattress. Here, he was in a little room with an uncomfortable cot with no blanket nor pillow. The friar had left to bring him some water, and when he returned had a look of curiosity on his face. He had bandages on his wounds now, but it did not heal the wound created by killing someone.

"Romeo, tell me what happened. Ever since you married Juliet, calamity has erupted in Verona's streets."

"Tybalt killed Mercutio and I killed Tybalt, now my kinsmen through this marriage. Any news, friar, any good news?"

"No good news, and for that Romeo, I pity you. You know as well as I do, maybe better than I do, the prince's punishment for brawlers in his streets."

"Am I put to death?"

"No, banished."

"Exile is more painful than death."

"Why is that? You can see the world, boy."

"I cannot see my family, my wife."

"But in time, you can. Surely this is better than death?"

"Its torture to live without either for a long period of time. A day would be hard without sight of them, and even harder without contact. How can I live without seeing-"

The friar interrupted his short-lived rant. "Let me speak, Romeo."

"You'll speak of the advantages of banishment, though, wont you?"

"Banishment _does_ have its advantages. Listen here, I have a plan."

"A plan to bring me back? Or bring someone to me?"

A hard, rapping knock echoed throughout the small monastery. The friar whispered, "Hide. They'll find you if you don't."

Artemis scrambled into another hidden room, and listened to the conversation.

"I'm coming!" the friar said to the persistent knocking. "Who is it?"

"I come on an errand from Miss Juliet Capulet, seeking your help."

The nurse! "All right, let me open the door."

Artemis heard the door creak open, and the nurse rushing in. "Tell me, Friar Lawrence, where is Romeo? He cannot be in Mantua already."

"In that room there."

He listened to the jingling of keys, and the door opened, and Artemis stumbled since he had been leaning against the door to listen in on the discussion.

"Romeo!" the nurse exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Fine! While she is there, depressed and missing you, staring out the window muttering your name?"

Artemis was taken aback. Was this really Holly doing this? _She's a really good actress. Maybe I should improve my own acting skills. _"Nurse! Is Juliet alright? How is my wife? What does she think of today's events? Does she think of me as a murderer? Does Hol-Juliet still love me?" _Much better,_ the boy genius told himself.

"She weeps, and stares out the window with tears in her eyes." Of course, the nurse was exaggerating; Holly had never done anything of the sort except when she thought Artemis was dead, and even then only had tears in her eyes.

"All for a name! Why do our families have to hate each other so much? There's nothing in a name except for mere letters and sounds, which mean nothing except to separate people from others. I would die for a different name, and maybe, Friar, I should." Artemis drew his sword, and pointed it at his heart.

"No!" The friar looked at him as if he was crazy, and looked mad because of it. "You are a man, Romeo, you will learn to deal with pain. You killed Tybalt, and by doing so, you banished yourself. You made the decision to do that, and you, Romeo Montague, will have to deal with the consequences."

"But I-" Artemis tried to interject.

"No, Romeo, you will listen. If you slay yourself as you just attempted to, you will kill more than yourself. You will kill your wife, and in turn tear up both families. Maybe it will break the feud, but it's too big of a chance to take. Would you risk the life of your wife, that you love, for that cause? The death of Tybalt and something I have in mind might stop that. Go to Juliet, comfort her, and then in the early morning at dawn, go to Mantua. Bathasar will take you. Nurse, go tell Juliet Romeo is coming."

After saying "Finally some good news!" the nurse departed.

"Do you feel any better, Romeo?" the friar inquired.

"I feel enlightened by both the speech and the prospect of seeing my lady again."

"Good bye then, Romeo."

"Bye Friar."

Artemis walked off into now what was dusk and watched the stars as he meandered along Verona's streets for one of the last times.

* * *

Author's Note: Please review and tell me how I did! 


	10. A Kiss Hello

Author's Note: I reached sixty pages on my last chapter! That's almost as many reviews, which I have 71, including one with major criticism. This chapter has lots of dialogue in it too, mostly humorous, or my attempt to be funny anyway.

Thanks to –anon-anon-anon-, Rock 4ng3l, yamapi, Zarroc, Agivega, hidden and forgotten (where is the mistake? Tell me if/when you review), ShadowMagicks, and aperfectattitude.

CoffeeandCherryBrandy: If you read **_any_** of my author's notes you would know why I did this story the way I did. I'm doing 21st century dialogue for three reasons: one, because I got banned for using the real dialogue and even the paraphrased, and if I get banned again it will probably be permanent; two, because in the original people said it was too hard to understand, and important things happen in the dialogue, and if people don't bother to read it then why write the story in the first place? Three, Artemis is a teenager. Teenagers change. For example, in the Opal Deception, he wears teenagers' clothing and speaks like one. This means that he knows how to act like one, and he can do so, even if it's unwillingly. In the story, for reasons explained above, they talk using this sort of dialogue. It would be strange for Artemis to talk the way he does in front of those people. He is ACTING. The parts with Holly he talks more of the way he usually does. But there is bound to be a lil OOCness since Eoin Colfer did not write a single AF story. And since you were too lazy to read my author's notes, and too lazy to finish critiquing me, I guess you'll be too lazy to read this. But I will try to keep Artemis in character.

Since I don't feel like doing a recap, last chapter: Artemis got in a fight and killed Tybalt and is about to go meet Holly. No, there wont be any explicit scenes, since they're in the flirting stage (in my opinion, there are 'stages' in love: notice, crush, flirt, date, etc, etc) and haven't admitted their love yet. And this is a teen story and I wouldn't write anything romantic in a higher rating. They _do _have what people would consider romantic action, but they don't regard it as it. We do, though. Anywayz, the story.

* * *

Artemis had climbed over the walls of the Capulet estate with great struggle. His arms weren't the strongest in the first place, and they hurt dreadfully after today's workout. The only thing closest to the pain he had experienced was during when he was in the Arctic and he had to hold on to the top of the train. However, he could numb the pain by being proud he was alive, which meant he had decent enough swordsmanship.

Artemis jumped down from the ten foot walls, knees bent, and walked towards Holly's room for the second time. It was more climbing, another ten foot exertion going straight up, but he made it with Holly's help."Holly" was the first word out of his mouth.

"Artemis," she replied, giving him another kiss on the cheek, "you survived."

"Of course," smirked Artemis.

"How was it?"

"My arms hurt," Artemis groaned.

"Really?" Holly smiled, running her hand over his bicep. "Don't look any bigger. If it really hurt, then they would swell with blood."

"Thanks for the description." Artemis looked at his arm, now lonely without Holly's touch. "I'll never think of my arms hurting the same way again."

"The great Artemis Fowl, supposedly the smartest minor on the planet, didn't know how muscles got bigger?" Holly scoffed.

"I prefer studying psychology and environmental issues."

"You admit not knowing something?"

"No one knows everything. Even if you did, it would only be for a second, since everything changes constantly."

"So," Holly said, "describe the fight."

"Well, when I got there, a fight was already about to break out, and then these two guys Mercutio and Tybalt fought each other, Mercutio died, and then Tybalt came back, I killed him, then I went to Friar Lawrence's."

"Is that all? I thought there would be more to it."

"Maybe I don't feel like describing bloody battles in great detail. That's what documentaries are for."

"But there's not one on this."

"Go watch the movie when we get back then, I'm sure it will provide sufficient detail."

"But you won't be in it."

"But the battle's the same, nevertheless."

"But the point is never again will you involve himself in something physical without the great Butler's help."

Artemis glared at her, and was about to say something when Holly smiled. He never had noticed it before, how her face lit up and her eyes sparkled. He stopped glaring, and looked down.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"_Nothing_ is something."

"It is not."

"Yes it is."

"Well, Holly, what is it then?"

"A word. That's something."

"I meant the whole principle of nothingness. It's like that whole argument with that phrase, 'nobody's perfect.'"

"I'm nobody!"

"No, you're Holly Short, Captain in the LEP, friend of Foaly and Root, around the age of eighty in human years, friend of the Fowl family and their accomplices, and a red head with hazel eyes."

"Is that all you know about me?"

Artemis nodded, once again looking at the floor.

Holly sat on the bed. "Well, it's eighty one actually, and-"

"What's that on the human scale of time?"

"Round twenty."

_Six year's difference between us. Whoa. _"So what's the whole thing with age?"

Holly sighed. She hadn't been looking forward to a scientific discussion with Artemis. "Well, um, when fairies are born, they grow at about a three times slower than the human baby. Then when they're about twenty, they go to fairy school, and-"

"Explain that when you're done."

"Is that all you want? A description of fairy developmental cycles and education?" she snapped.

"No," he teased sarcastically. "There's something else."

"Shut up. Graduate around, um, maybe seventy five?"

"God, that must be horrible. Fifty five years of schooling?" he scoffed.

"Well, three times as slow developmental rate…"

"In other words around twenty for us. Well if there's two for preschool, thirteen in regular schooling, four for college...that sounds plausible."

"And then onward it's basically like the twenties to thirties for a couple hundred years, and then the decades in human life become a hundred years, and gets faster as we age. And then, normally, a fairy dies around one thousand five hundred years at the human equivalent of eighty five."

"Very interesting," Artemis drawled. "Is that all?"

Holly nodded.

"Good. I'm hungry. Where's the food?" Artemis said this with a grin, a real grin, a playful grin that Holly couldn't resist.

"Didn't you get some on the way here, Mud Boy?"

"No. Now, if you could go down into the kitchens and get me some food, maybe caviar if they had any."

"Am I your servant? And why would you eat caviar? It's fish eggs."

"No, Holly, you are no servant of mine. If you were, I would make you kill those people for me. And caviar happens to be my favorite food, thank you very much."

Holly grimaced. "Fine, Mud Boy, but no caviar." Artemis watched as Holly disappeared down the stairs to get some victuals, hopefully something upper class unlike what he had eaten earlier.

* * *

When Holly had found out that Artemis was coming for sure, her mood had taken an unexpected turn. All of a sudden, she felt giddy and excited, which was strange, since she had been in a melancholy mood for the last three days. And now, as she went to get the food from the kitchens, she reminisced on her past actions. She regretted the whole thing with his arm as she thought about it more and more, since he might take it as a romantic gesture instead of a teasing, borderline flirtatious one. His arm _was _bigger than it was a year ago, but was it only because of that. One thing for sure, he had a long way to go.

She walked down to the kitchens, taking a flight of stairs and peeking in through every door, finally stopping at the one the most people had traveled in and out of.

"Miss Juliet, what are you doing here at this time of night?" someone dressed in what Holly inferred to be a servant's clothes asked.

"I'm really hungry," Holly exclaimed, rubbing her stomach to prove the point.

"Well, there's not much at this time of night. It is after nine, miss. But I'll find something," the servant replied hurriedly, searching through cabinets and boxes. She lifted a platter and discovered three sandwiches and a pot of spaghetti. "Is this enough for your growing appetite, miss?"

Holly gave the food a scrutinizing look. "And what's in the spaghetti sauce and sandwiches?"

"Um, in the sandwiches, Miss, is either ham or turkey, with cheese and mushrooms, lettuce, and tomatoes with some sort of sauce. And the spaghetti sauce includes mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, peppers, and onions."

"Mushrooms!" Holly _loved _mushrooms.

"So you'll take it?"

"Yes!"

"If you say so, miss. Shall I take this to your room for you?"

"Su-, wait no, I've got it." Holly replied, remembering Artemis.

"Are you sure, Miss?" It's awfully heavy."

"I'll manage." Holly grabbed the platter, now also holding the pot, with ease.

"Wait, you'll need these." The servant handed her a bowl and some silverware."

"Thanks," Holly said, turning her back on the servant and leaving the kitchen.

"You're welcome, miss. Night."

Holly took the heavier platter up the stairs and back to her room. Artemis was there, waiting expectantly. "All right, what do ya want?"

"What do you have?"

"Ham sandwich, two turkey sandwiches, and vegetarian spaghetti. I want some spaghetti and one turkey sandwich without the meat. Frond knows you need it."

"Why would you want two pieces of bread?"

"And cheese, and lettuce, and tomatoes, and mushrooms!"

"Is it safe to assume they don't have lettuce and tomatoes in Haven?"

"It's a fact."

"That's horrible."

"Whatever. Let's eat!" Holly hungrily snatched a sandwich, opened it, took out the turkey, and threw it at Artemis. She proceeded to eat it as Artemis stared.

"And I thought _I _was hungry," Artemis replied sarcastically, heaping out some spaghetti and eating it daintily.

Holly snorted. "Typical Artemis. Always acting as if he is better than everyone else."

"Well, I do have a higher intellect, and obviously better eating etiquette," he began loftily.

"Shuddup," Holly said with a mouthful of food, "and eat."

"Fine."

There was silence while the pair ate, save for Holly's "mmmm"s and the clicking of silverware. As soon as Artemis finished his bowl, Holly seized the pot and ate from that, too. Artemis stared wide eyed as he munched on his sandwich, and peeked in the pot after he heard a crash as utensils hit the pot. When he looked, he saw all the mushrooms on one side of the pot and the rest of the food mixed together.

"Let me guess," he said at the sight of it, "you don't like mushrooms?"

"How dare you say I hate mushrooms?" she said heatedly, "I love them!"

"Oh, you're saving them for last. I see."

Holly nodded. "Lemme eat," she said with a mouthful of pasta.

"Disgusting eating habits," Artemis scoffed.

Holly glared at him and continued to eat. After finishing the spaghetti, she attempted to grab the last sandwich, but Artemis stopped her.

"Move your hand, Mud Boy! I'm hungry!"

She grabbed his hand and strived to move it from its clutching grip around the sandwich. "No. You're acting gluttonous, Holly, and even though its very hard for me, I'm going to show you how you eat."

Holly laughed. "I'ld like to see you try."

Artemis shoved half of the sandwich into his mouth and chewed with his mouth open with a look of "How can you do this?" on his face. He further proved his point by smacking his lips until Holly snapped.

"Fine, fine, Mud Boy, I get the point," she sighed exasperatedly.

"I won't stop until you call me something other than Mud Boy," the person in question replied with a mouthful of food.

"All right, Mud Person, Mud Man, Mud bastard-"

"Excuse me, but I do have a father, so I cannot be what you call a mud bastard, and I meant something without the word mud in it."

"Fine, boy."

"That makes me sound so juvenile."

_What other variations are there of boy and or Artemis Fowl? _Holly pondered, using her teasing demeanor to her advantage. "Umm, Art, Fowly, but that sounds too much like Foaly, Arty?"

"No, Holly, there will never be need for you to call me Arty."

"Oh, I see, that's what your parents call you."

Artemis nodded after swallowing the last bite of the sandwich. "And I do believe you were planning to describe fairy education for me."

"That's what you thought. I need to know more about the plan."

"What else do you need to know? You get a potion from Friar Lawrence as an alternative to killing yourself, and that night after finding out about your engagement take it. You are presumed dead, taken to the mausoleum after a brief funeral service, and there I find you, kill Paris, and then take you to Mantua when you wake up."

"I thought you were taking that potion thingy too."

"I changed my mind."

"Well thanks for telling me," Holly retorted.

"Then we go to Mantua, then after the two week deadline, which by then would be nine days later, if you are still a human it is safe to travel as long as we are back in six weeks. If we do go to Greece, it would take two weeks maximum to get there, which gives a total of four weeks traveling and a week recreation. As long as we are back by the sixty first day at the chute, you can convince Foaly to take us back."

"What if it's the two hundredth day?"

"Then we go somewhere else, but that leaves us one hundred thirty nine days, or approximately four months, or a day under twenty weeks."

"Where could we go?"

"In France we could have over thirteen weeks recreation, in Egypt two months, same with Turkey. Of course, there is an additional week to get to the chute."

"Egypt then, I've always wanted to see the place but it drains fairy magic."

"But you do have your magic?" Artemis inquired.

"It's draining in all this light. We won't need it until I go back, right?"

"But where will you find an oak tree by a river bend?"

"By the chute, there's always one."

"Ok, that takes care of that."

"But why can't we go somewhere inland in Europe? Like Macedonia, Hungary, Germany, places like that?"

"It's more expensive. We would have to pay for travel more than food more than we would other places."

"What kind of travel do you mean?"

"Probably horseback. Carriage is too expensive, no matter how much gold we can get."

"Steal, you mean? I'm not doing anything with stolen gold," declared Holly righteously.

"No, as a Capulet, you can ask for gold the day before your pretend suicide to go shopping or something. But ask for a lot. We'll need to get you some new clothes too. You can't go around in your nightdress."

"What about you?"

"I found a bunch in my pocket. About twenty gold pieces. A ship ticket is worth five, I asked."

"So that takes care of all the shipping costs for Greece. What class?"

"First, of course. A Fowl has to travel in style."

"Travel second. It's cheaper but not as bad as third."

Artemis paled. "There is no way a member of a billionaire family is traveling in second class. The disgrace!"

"You're not a Fowl here."

"So? I am in spirit. _Aurum Est Potestas _is still my motto."

"You haven't changed a bit," Holly scoffed, turning away.

"Who said I had?"

"Never mind," Holly sighed. _I just thought he had. Damn. _"Let's just get ready for bed." She turned to a closet and took a dress looking similar to a nightgown. She grabbed it and went off to the bathroom, changing into it.

When Holly had grabbed it, she didn't know it was skin tight. She had no idea it was low cut. She had no clue that when she had tossed her dress down a medieval sort of laundry chute, she had to march out there in a skin tight, curve exaggerating, bust exposing nightdress. "D'arvit!" she swore. She poked her head through the door. "Look away, Mud Boy."

"Why?" Artemis asked, intrigued.

"Cuz I said so!"

Not wanting to press the matter, Artemis looked away as Holly dashed across the room and jumped into bed. However, she didn't jump into bed fast enough. "Artemis!" she shrieked. "I said not to look!"

"Well I didn't know it would be this long," Artemis drawled, smirking at the sight of a lady like but exposed Holly, who had not yet pulled the comforters over her revealing gown.

"Sorry," she retorted sarcastically.

"It's ok. I've seen worse."

"Worse? Who else have you seen? Don't tell me you have a girlfriend!"

He chuckled. "My parents would like that, but I wouldn't."

Holly's attention was sparked. "Why?"

"Um," Artemis said, blushing, "Will you laugh at me if I say this?"

"Say what?"

"That I'm only going to marry or date someone I could love for the rest of my life?"

Now it was Holly's turn to blush, but she quickly covered it up. "So we have ourselves two hopeless romantics here. Very interesting. But you cant just figure that out by sight. You have to actually know the person."

"I know, I know," he sighed. "Now can I go to sleep?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Artemis strolled over to the bed, taking off his wretched cape.

"Artemis?"

"Yes?" He answered, trying to unbutton of the buttons to the cape.

"What are you doing?"

"Isn't this part of out sleeping arrangements?"

"No," she replied, slightly perturbed.

"But we're married," he sighed.

"A Montague and Capulet are, not a Fowl and a Short. You're sleeping on the floor, as it's _my_ bed."

"The floor? I will not!"

"Here," Holly replied, tossing him an extra comforter. "That should make it better."

Artemis pouted, which brought a smile on her face. Artemis looked so cute when angry! "What?"

"Nothing," she said, distracted by the funny expression of his eyes. Those _blue_ eyes… "Now go to bed." Holly blew out the candle, and watched in the moonlight as Artemis rolled around on the floor, wrapped in the comforter. The moonlight shone on his raven hair at the same angle it shone on hers. Artemis had apparently fallen asleep, mumbling in his sleep, to Holly's discontent. She could never sleep with noise! _It's gonna be a long night, _she realized as he mumbled something about stock prices and gold, _a **really** long night. _

* * *

**_Please read- _**Author's Note: And the end of another long chapter, my longest yet! Twelve pages! I tried to keep Artemis in character as much as I could, and I personally think I did a decent job. Just wondering about Holly. That part about mushrooms I thought was really funny :-) just was it in character? I think every character has an addiction, like for Opal it's chocolate truffles, and for Holly, its mushrooms. **Please review! It would be really nice to get to eighty five reviews before I next post!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **It only takes a minute to write something. Just click on the go button, please!


	11. Some Father Substitute

Once again, no note…

* * *

Artemis woke up in a heap on the floor, uncomfortable and not entirely rested, but in better shape than he had that night. The dawn's orange and red fingers were creeping up the horizon, and the view from the balcony was masked in orange and pink shades. He stumbled out to the balcony, knowing this would be the last time he would last see Holly as Juliet. Now she had no preoccupations, but if someone recognized them, they would have to think up alibis, since he was supposed to be banished and her dead.

Glancing back at Holly, the boy genius smiled, although it was a small one. She looked so calm, at peace. She was smiling in her sleep, and her hair was rumpled and spread across the pillow. He sighed, and turned away as she stretched and yawned. Some things-like Holly's calm state- were too good to last long.

* * *

Holly had been dreaming about flying through the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by jumping dolphins when she heard something moving. She yawned, and squinted her eyes. It was sunrise, and a shadow was at the balcony. Holly got out of bed, forgetting about her exposing dress, and walked over to the shadow, presumably Artemis.

"Hey," she said groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"Hello, Holly. Morning," the Fowl stared off into the distance stone faced, not looking at Holly.

"Morning, Artemis. Why the long face?"

"My face didn't grow longer, did it?" Artemis still stared off into the distance, but looked like he was trying to suppress a smile.

"You know what I mean. Why are you not looking at the person you're talking to? Common etiquette requires that," she teased.

"You know what else common etiquette requires?"

Holly rested herself on the balcony's edge, now also looking out at the sunrise. "What does it require?"

"Non-revealing clothing."

"Hey, what do you mean?" Holly asked, still not entirely awake. She looked at Artemis. "You mean those skin tight pants of yours? I agree, those things are _ugly,"_ she replied, drawing out the last word.

"Yes, but those aren't revealing."

"What do you mean?" said Holly, completely oblivious to last night's events.

"That dress which you were so careful to hide last night."

Holly looked at her dress, and let out a small shriek. "Dammit, Artemis, why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I tried, but your witticisms prevented me," he smirked, to Holly's discontent.

"You-you," Holly stuttered, and decided to take things to a more physical level since her mind was racing and thwarted her attempts to talk. She pulled her arm back, curling her hand into a fist, and let her hand fly right where it always hit: his chin.

He groaned, and put his hand to his chin. "What did you do, put steel plates on your knuckles?"

"Hey, your bony chin hurt too."

"My chin is _not _bony!"

"Yes, it is."

Artemis rolled his eyes and answered, "Why don't you go change if you're so self conscious about this dress of yours. Of course, I don't care, but it's apparent that you do."

"You perv!" Holly marched back to her closet, back to Artemis, and unknown to him, grabbed a high heeled, very heavy shoe and threw it with great force at him, hitting him with perfect aim in the torso.

"Gosh, Holly, what is your problem?" Artemis, trying to be the athlete he wasn't, threw it back at Holly, but it instead hit the lamp, breaking.

Holly laughed excessively, ignoring Artemis's scowl. "Nice aim," she snorted, failing to suppress a grin.

He glared, and ignored Holly as she chose a dress, this time a bright emerald. "I want to 'die' in my best, don't I? And besides, I have to wear this dress for a while, right?"

"Here, why don't I take some stuff? That way when we go to Mantua, you can have several dresses."

"All right," Holly said, tossing him three or four heaps, one white, one a navy blue, one a lime green, and one that would match her hazel eyes.

"I have to go," Artemis said, dragging the dresses and putting his first foot over the balcony wall.

"Not even without a good bye?" Holly looked at Artemis, who looked melancholy.

Artemis nodded, then reconsidered. "What kind of good bye?" he sighed. "Like the last?"

"What was wrong with that?"

"It was too much, Holly," he sighed. "We aren't in a relationship, and I don't even know if I want to be in one, due to my mixed up feelings. This is just so strange, for a couple days we're friends and now," he shook his head, "now we're kissing each other on the cheek good bye and hello, even if its just you. It makes me wonder, Holly, what your feelings are, and I don't know if I ever will know, because it seems like they're always changing. It's the same with mine. I don't know what to do, and I don't think you do either. So, Holly, I guess I'll see you in a couple days." He left, leaving Holly to stare out at the rising sun, to run to the edge of the balcony while he climbed over the wall to ride a horse with someone he had said to be his servant, who was holding the dresses and guiding the horse.

Artemis had jumped down from the wall, painfully, but made it without breaking anything. A guy who he presumed to be Balthasar pulled him up on the horse as he grasped the dresses. Then he rode away on the horse, knowing a glance back could be tragic for both him and Holly. This play really _was_ a tragedy.

Balthasar took him through the deserted back roads as the sun rose into the azure sky. There were rows of olive trees and other native plants to the Mediterranean climate. People looked like they were just waking up and stepping out of both their huts and villas, ignoring the noise of a galloping bay horse bearing two riders to Mantua. Artemis was not nervous, since he had the knowledge of equestrianism, but no horse, no scenery like this, could take away the damage he felt he had created.

After about an hour of riding, Balthasar dismounted and Artemis handed him the dresses. He was in front of little hut, and Artemis scoffed. A Fowl living in a hut? It couldn't be true! Artemis dismounted as well, and tied up the horse. Normally it was servant's work, but since the servant was setting down the fifty pounds worth of dresses, he could do it. When he finished tying up the horse, he strolled into the hut, ready to criticize. But when he walked in the hut, he was mildly surprised. It had a wood stove on one side, and a table next to it was piled with what looked to be fresh vegetables and bread. A double bed was made and looked inviting. He sat down on it and watched as Balthasar folded the dresses neatly and put them in a small wooden cupboard. It seemed as if someone was waiting for a Montague to be banished, and set it up decently. Unless they 'borrowed' the hut from someone else.

"Thank you, Balthasar."

Balthasar blushed. "Not a problem, sir. Is there anything else you would like?"

_Finally someone who respects me for who I am. _"I think you could tell me about this, ah, cabin."

"Well, what would you like to know, sir?"

"Why is this cabin so well furnished?"

"Well, the Montagues bought it about a decade ago when they found out that an older Montague, Mario I believe, was banished. He had no place to go so Friar Lawrence hid him in his cell until some servants of the family, myself included, could build this hut. We furnished it, and two days later the man went out here and my father stayed with him, and I would ride over and bring over supplies when I wasn't taking care of you as a child, sir."

"Well where did all this food come from?"

"I brought it over last night while you were at the Capulet's."

"How did you know?"

"Well, not to be too bold, sir, but it was fairly obvious when you jumped down carrying her dresses from the orchard wall."

"You're right," Artemis sighed.

"Do you love her?"

"That _is _too bold."

"My apologies, sir. Please excuse my rudeness, it wasn't my place to say that."

Artemis shrugged. "It's alright."

"No, sir, it is not alright."

Artemis rolled his eyes, a new thing for Artemis. "Let's change the subject away from the lovely Juliet Capulet. What else do you know about this house?"

"That's all, sir. Now what can I do for you?"

"You can make me some breakfast." Artemis heard his stomach growl as he made the request.

"Of course, sir." Balthasar hurried to start a fire in the stove, and started chopping. Artemis listened to him talk about the joy of working for a Montague and how happy he was that he didn't have to work for a Capulet. He barely listened, though, his mind more in turmoil than his outer composure could show. He couldn't believe the events of the past couple days, they seemed as if he wasn't the one committing the crimes, conversing with Holly. It was like he was watching some Artemis clone do everything. His mind was separating from his body. And the acting… he had been taking in so much of this Romeo's character it was shocking who he was turning into. An occasionally cussing, slang using murderer. He shuddered. Was he really Artemis Fowl, or was he turning into the person whose role he played: Romeo Montague?

* * *

Holly had been watching Artemis ride away a different person when the Nurse walked in, giving her no time to think about the night's-and this morning's- events. "Juliet!" she said hurriedly.

"What?" she snapped.

The nurse tsked. "Your mother is coming here in five minutes to bring you news. Hurry, get dressed."

After being shoved into the bathroom, Holly changed into her pretty emerald dress and twirled around in front of the small mirror. "Holly," the nurse urged, "come on!"

Holly walked out of the bathroom to be ambushed by the nurse and the hair brush. "Why did you wear that dress," the nurse questioned, "your mother hates it."

"Why?" Holly asked.

"Because it's a Montague color."

"Well I like it. Green is my color."

The nurse shook her head. "Romeo has altered your thinking, dear. Although green _is _your color, you never would have worn that dress before you fell in love with Romeo."

Holly blushed, recalling Artemis's hurtful good-bye. "I wouldn't say I love him…"

"Then why, miss, did you marry the man?"

Holly stopped to think. Why did she marry Artemis? They weren't stuck in a play, they weren't following through with things anyway, they were in Verona, Italy, stuck in two people's lives and possibly stuck forever. _Screw keeping in character, screw Romeo, who gives a damn what we do? _Holly thought. And then she realized something, and heard someone running up the stairs.

"It's your mother, miss."

Holly glanced in the mirror. She looked presentable. But when a heavily make upped and well dressed woman walked through the room with a scowl at the sight of Holly's dress, she changed her mind.

"Hello, Juliet," Lady Capulet said politely.

_Oh, joy. More acting. _"Hello, mother," she said, attempting a curtsy in her heavy dress.

"How are you? Still grieving over Tybalt's death?"

Holly forced a look of sadness on her face. "I suppose so."

"Ah, poor child. I have brought you some news, however, that may bring light to this dark week."

"What news?" asked Holly, curious.

"You will be married, dear, to Paris, Thursday in Saint Peter's church. Some marriage will bring a joyful day to a grieving family."

"Marriage?" Holly stated incredulously. She knew she would get engaged, but she was still in shock. "Marriage? I can't marry Paris! I'm too young, it's too early," she said, wringing her hands. _Dammit, Foaly, why did you have to put me here, of all places?_

"But you'll be such a happy bride!"

"No I won't," Holly declared, furious. She already dealt with one marriage this week, she would never do it again with someone she didn't love. Especially _here. _

"Why won't you be a happy bride?" Lady Capulet paused at the sound of more footsteps. "Well, Juliet, here comes your father. Tell him so yourself."

A man walked in, slightly chubby and over six feet tall. He looked quite threatening, even when he looked complacent. "Good morning, my lady; good morning, Juliet."

"Morning," Holly said, gulping. Her intuition was telling her something…

"Mary," the man said, beckoning to Lady Capulet, "have you told our daughter the news?"

"Yes, I have, but she will take none of it."

Lord Capulet's face became slightly red, looking similar to Root. "And why is that?"

"She says she is too young, and unworthy of Paris's engagement."

Lord Capulet's face became more red, the pigment spreading to his ears. Holly was getting more worried by the second. "Not worthy?" he said. "Too young? There are mothers down the street, Juliet, as you very well know, who were married at eleven, and now have children!"

"But I'm not them," she said softly.

"What was that, Juliet? You're not them? That's right!" he said, now yelling. "That's why we waited two years. Two years! And for you to say you're unworthy of Paris's love, that's saying you're unworthy of being our daughter. And maybe you're right!"

Lady Capulet gasped and fell on Holly's bed. Lord Capulet, oblivious to the reaction, continued his rant. "For thirteen years we raised you and put up with you, and now you give us this bullshit?" He stepped towards Holly, who by now was cowering in front of a person over a foot taller than her, redder than Root had ever been, and pulled his hand back. "You bitch!" he screamed.

The nurse gasped, and ran in front of Holly. "No!" she shrieked. "Don't hurt her!"

Lord Capulet punched the nurse with great force, and she fell next to Lady Capulet. He turned to Holly, who curled her hands into fists as well. "Don't touch me!" she yelped, forgetting she was here, in Verona, "I'm not your daughter!"

"Very funny!" he roared. "Well, here you go, Juliet, here's a punishment worthy for your tongue, you unworthy bitch!"

Holly's back was pressed against the edge of the balcony, Lord Capulet mere inches away from her. He stepped back, pulled his hand back, and Holly shut her eyes, awaiting the pain about to come.

* * *

Please review! 


	12. Lessons With Brad

Author's Note: 93 reviews! OMG! And we do get some thoughts of the main characters this chapter, for those who were wondering when they would come up again. Here is where Arty falls for Holly, and Holly learns to ride. The riding part should be accurate, since I know how to myself.

Thanks to:

Queen Dragon: Thanks for alerting me to the mistake. I found it and fixed it after I read your review.

Heart Attach: Yes, I am very happy now! Why are the stats getting on your nerves?

Nodoubtrox: Thank you!

Yamapi: I fixed that error, but thank you!

Some Random Person: Thanks!

El Shabang: I tried to make it so that Holly could be this good actor and no one knew about this unknown talent. It works too because it motivates Artemis to try and be better at something. He seems like the type of guy who has to be the best at everything, doesn't he?

Zarroc: I'll try. I'm going on vacation from the 16th to the 24th, so my goal is to post two before that. It just takes dedication. Also, my updates will be much slower once I start high school gulp on the 29th.

TRUEHOLLY: Yes, it does count.

PrincessBob: You're the first person I've talked to who likes cliffhangers. Lol.

Agivega: Thanks for those stats. And about the language, in the real play he uses words like wench-which translates nowadays to slut n other choice words. Lol

CoffeeandCherryBrandy: I'm going backwards on what you said in your review. It just seemed like you weren't a fan of the AH coupling. I'm sorry. And Artemis is getting more attracted to the opposite sex, like in the last chapter with Holly's dress. Lol. And I do like my praise, thank you very much. It's a good motivator. And the whole legend issue: In my 8th grade literature book which included the entire play, it had an article in it how Shakespeare based the play on a legend from the Middle Ages or something. I think Juliet's name was Julietta or something, and I don't remember Romeo's name. lol. It makes things more complicated when I use different names and yet it has the same plot. And I never said he was turning into a pop culture teen, he's taking in a bit of his role. Please read the newer chapters, it makes things easier to respond.

Nodoubtrox: Thanks, there will be a lot more AH in next chapters becuz of what happens in this chapter. lol

* * *

**Recap**

Holly's back was pressed against the edge of the balcony, Lord Capulet mere inches away from her. He stepped back, pulled his hand back, and Holly shut her eyes, awaiting the pain about to come.

**End of Recap**

* * *

Artemis was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling of the primitive hut where he would reside for the next ten days. He studied the cracks, the watermarks, and the bumps that were scattered across the wooden planks so close together. He tried to meditate for the first time in four days, but his mind was cluttered as his thoughts raced around his head. It was like they were doing laps, the same thoughts coming back again as soon as he banished them.

_Why does she have to do that? Make me feel that way, like I'm in a raceI cant win, but can't lose, but tie. Like the only thing I can do is participate, not sit and watch or plot. Even though I have been planning most of this, and she better follow through even with her disregard to rules and all that. But it **does **seem like she's changed a bit. She's more feminine, more flirtatious. If it wasn't for this, I probably would have never seen her in a dress, possibly one of the only pluses of this venture. Maybe the dresses are what's influencing her flirts? She's been flirting with me a lot this week, hasn't she? _He asked himself. _Yes, but you like it, don't you, boy? _He answered. _Maybe a little, _he answered. _It's kind of funny, actually. It's even more fun to respond. If only we could-_

"Sir?" Balthasar inquired.

"Yes?" Artemis sat up, shaking his head.

"Breakfast is ready."

"Good. Thanks."

"Not a problem, sir." Balthasar handed Artemis a platter containing eggs, toast, and fried potatoes.

It wasn't exactly what Artemis would consider the perfect breakfast, but it was rations, and any sort of rations were good. "Looks delicious."

"Good, sir. I'll go into the village to buy more supplies."

"How long will you be gone?" Artemis asked.

"All day, sir."

"All right, then. Good bye."

"Bye, sir." Balthasar left, leaving Artemis alone to plot and maybe explore, having to wait at least a day until he would take Holly away. _I wonder what she's doing,_ he thought.

* * *

Speaking of Holly, she was recovering from a right clip and a slap with ice and ranting. _I cannot believe he did that! That-that bastard! He had no right to do that to me, even if he did think I was his daughter, that poor girl! I can almost see **why **she would kill herself, after all this. If I didn't get knocked unconscious after that slap long enough for him to get away, I would've punched him. Frond knows he deserves it. _She adjusted the ice on her chin. _It's a pretty bad punch if it takes ice along with magic to fix this. And above all this, I bet Artemis is sitting on his ass with those blue eyes of his closed, thinking about how hard it must be to live here. If he got hit like I did, I bet he'd be on the floor crying like a girl, those blue eyes pouring out tears like crazy. _She paused, picturing the sight. _And his black hair would be all rumpled, and his blue eyes. _Holly stopped. _I must've said "blue eyes" bout three or four times by now. Why? Because you like how he looks, don't cha? _Her more girly side answered. _You like those blue eyes that you could probably stare into for hours and still not figure him out and the hair that always looks perfect and needs a good mess up. Why do you think you've been flirting with him so much? That's not flirting, that's teasing, _her tomboyish side responded. _And besides, he's like seventy years younger then I am. But only about six if you converted my age to human, _her girly side retorted. _It could work, you'd just have to work for it. Wonder what he thinks of you, you saw his reaction to that dress. That ugly dress, _she countered. _Actually, you looked quite good in it, you're just too prudish. Am not!_ She argued. _Yes, you are, Holly, face it, you reacted to a dress that barely showed your bust. Just cuz you wear a LEP uniform or pajamas all the time doesn't mean you can't dress girly every once in a while. _

Holly stopped her tangent and looked around her bedroom. Lady Capulet had left once she had recovered, and the nurse was still unconscious. Her idea which had flashed upon her about twenty minutes ago continued to flash resolutely in her mind. It wasn't in the plan, but she didn't care any more. She walked over to the nurse and shook her.

"Nurse? Nurse? Are you all right?"

The nurse stirred and opened her eyes. "Oh, Juliet, are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Holly replied, wincing in pain when the nurse touched the soon to be bruise. "It's just-will you help me with something?"

"What is it?" The nurse sat up, rubbing the spot where she had been punched.

"Could you take me somewhere?" Holly asked.

"Where, Juliet? And for what purpose?"

"Could you take me to Mantua? To see Art-Romeo?"

"What are your alternatives?"

"Well," Holly answered, thinking that if she answered with a rash enough alternative the nurse would _have _to take her, "I would run away myself, and probably die from lack of food or proper drink, or probably commit one of God's greatest sins because I can no longer see my, ah, love and marry another while I am already married."

"You-you mean," the nurse asked, failing to gather up the courage to use the appropriate term.

"Yes."

"Will you stay with Romeo?"

"Well, if I came back here, I would commit the second alternative."

"No!" The nurse replied, standing up now and grabbing a bag and stuffing more of Holly's new dresses in it. "I would rather have you be away but happy than dead and missing your love."

"Thank you!" Holly felt the nurse pull her into a hug.

"I will go get you some money, and tell you how to get there. You will have to ride, and-"

"Ride?" Holly paled. She had never ridden a horse before, and to ride by herself to a place she had never been before? But since she still had her magic, and consequently her gift of tongues, she could probably survive.

"Yes. I have heard where the Montagues hide their banished, and I can tell you, and you will find your love. Here, hold this," the nurse said, handing her the bag with all but three of her dresses. She took the bag.

The nurse left momentarily and came back with a purse filled to the brim with large gold coins. Holly was mesmerized by the gold, but she shook her head and looked away, putting the gold filled purse in the dress bag. "That way, no one'll see it."

"That's a good idea, miss."

The nurse left again to grab food, and also put the carefully wrapped parcel in the bag. "What will be my excuse?" Holly asked.

"It'll look like you ran away."

"Shouldn't I do it at night then?"

"Do you want to?"

"Not really," Holly admitted.

"Well, everyone's at Tybalt's funeral. You should be able to get away quickly enough."

"Okay."

The nurse led Holly downstairs, giving her instructions on how to get to Mantua. She gave her no instructions on how to ride, so Holly assumed that Juliet knew. Oh, well, she would survive. If not, there had to be some nearby oak tree at the river that she was following to Mantua. The nurse lead her to the stables, and a stable boy lead her to a horse that had hair red as can be and a darker mane to match.The nurse gave the stable boy ten gold coins to keep this event confidential, and she left.

Holly was now alone with this very cute, very respectful stable boy. He had curly brown hair, highlighted in the sun from work, probably, and these deep brown eyes that, like Artemis's, carried so much depth. He lifted her up on the horse, and led her out to the courtyard.

"What's his name?" Holly asked.

"Her name is Holly," the stable boy replied, "and mine's Bradford, but you can call me Brad."Brad took off his hat and took a little bow.

"Hi, Brad." _Weird conciendence with the horse's name. But who cares? This stable boy is pretty cute and respectful. Unlike some guys I know._

"Now, is there anything you would like to know before you set off?"

"Yes," Holly sighed. "Can you tell me how to steer and stuff?"

"But, miss, your father gave you lessons last year."

"I forgot."

"Well,"Brad replied, running his fingers through his hair, "you hold the reins like this." He demonstrated. "And you steer by pulling one rein towards you, or just tightening up on that rein. If you pull the right rein, she'll turn right. To get her to go faster, you kick gently. Want me to show you?"

Holly nodded.

Bradjumped up behind her and demonstrated again. The horse started walking, and whenBrad kicked again, started trotting. "You see?" he said. "She gets faster. Now, to slow down, tighten up on both reins."

"Okay, thanks."

Bradjumped off and said, "My pleasure, Miss Juliet." He gave her a kiss on the head and walked off, saying, "Good luck."

"Thanks." Holly held the reins nervously and set off at a walk.

"Now, you'll need to go faster than that to get there in time."Brad called.

Holly kicked the horse again and set off at a trot, following the directions the nurse had given her. She left the roads and went through the forest where she and Artemis had walked, parallel to the roads to hide her presence. After crossing a creek and letting the horse drink, she went faster, and surprisingly enjoyed it. Holly liked seeing the closely grouped together trees go by in a blur, and after about fifteen minutes at this pace, she slowed down and got off near a tree stump.

After walking around to stretch her legs, she got back on and continued at the regular pace. In half an hour she was at what would be considered the town limits of Mantua and near Artemis's hut.

"Oh, shit," Holly muttered. _Where is his place? She said it was about a quarter mile after the forest…_

She continued and went more into the farms. Soon there was a little hut, wooden and neat compared to the others. She jumped off, tied the reins to a nearby post which also had a horse, and knocked.

"Artemis?"

"Who?" someone asked, opening the door a creak. "Who're you?"

"Sorry," Holly replied, blushing, "wrong house."

Holly traveled to three different houses, leading the other Holly along, until she came across a similar house to the first one and smelled of food and was quiet. "Artemis?" she knocked.

She heard a scampering and then the door flew open, revealing a very tired looking black haired, blue eyed, teenager. "Holly!"

* * *

Author's Note: Please review! It would be really awesome to get over a hundred reviews! Sorry for the short chapter. 


	13. Truth or Dare

Author's Note: I can't believe I hit a hundred reviews. And now, I'm on 106! Like I said, I never expected to go beyond twenty five. You guys amaze me. :- ) And totally honored that I am on the favorites list of nineteen people.

Thanks to nodoubtrox, PrincessBob, TRUEHOLLY, Yamapi, Queen Dragon, FlamingNinja, Zarroc-my 100th reviewer, Zephyr21, Rock 4ng3l, hogwartscharmed1, bubblys, and Rebel Rose.

**Recap**

Holly traveled to three different houses, leading the other Holly along, until she came across a similar house to the first one and smelled of food and was quiet. "Artemis?" she knocked.

She heard a scampering and then the door flew open, revealing a very tired looking black haired, blue eyed, teenager. "Holly!"

**End of recap**

When Artemis saw Holly exuberantly standing in the doorway, he had to admit he was surprised. He hadn't been expecting to see her for another day, when he would sneak back to Verona, and yet here she was, standing on the threshold smiling.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? I found a way to fix your plan, and it worked."

"I was _supposed _to meet you in the mausoleum, but obviously we're meeting here a day ahead of schedule."

"What's wrong with that?"

"We're not sticking to the _plan."_

"At least now you don't have to kill Paris."

"Oh, yes, Holly, I forgot, how was the fight?"

"You knew?" Holly asked. "And you didn't save me from that?"

"Yes, I knew. But we had to stick to the _plan, _didn't we?"

"Well we aren't now, are we?"

"You aren't. I am."

"So, Artemis, you knew I was about to be beaten and you didn't bloody tell me?"

"Sorry, Holly."

"So I got punched and slapped when I could have went with you?"

"That's not in the plan. I'm sorry you got punched though, you didn't deserve it."

"But you did!" Holly, for the second time that day, pulled back her curled fingers. Artemis grabbed it, however, before she could hit him. She struggled, pulling Artemis towards her. Soon their faces were an inch apart. "Whoa," Holly commented. "Why are we…so close?"

"Why are we, Holly?" Artemis asked softly. It could have been the perfect romantic moment. Alone in a warm house with food and a toasty fire and a bed. "Why are we even here?"

"Because it was part of the deal Root made because you made the C Cube."

"Because you raided my house." Artemis looked at Holly with deep blue puppy eyes, trying to play the pity card.

_Those eyes. Frond, why does he have to do that? _"Because you stole me away."_ And my heart as well._

"But do you regret it?"

"Do you?"

"I don't. I never would have met you otherwise."

"Same." _So does he feel the same way? _Holly asked herself. _Does he get those little butterflies in his stomach when he looks into my eyes, the way it is for me?_

"But what did you mean, I stole you away?" Artemis asked, curious. Did this mean what he thought it meant? Did Holly have romantic feelings for him? Was she expecting something from him as they remained an inch away, both staring into the other's eyes and lips open, even when they were listening to the other's voice?

"You stole me away from my job, my family-"

"What family? You said your father died years ago."

"Uh, my mom, cousins, grandparents, you know. Even though I'm not really _close _to all of them…"

"What do you mean?"

"They didn't like the idea of me being a police officer, if you know what I mean."

Artemis nodded. He knew what it was like for people to disagree with his actions, just not on that high of a scale. "That's still no reason for them not to acknowledge you," he replied.

"I know," she said glumly.

"What else did I 'steal' you from?"

"I said my job and family, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, um, my social life-"

"You have a social life?" he asked incredulously.

She glared back, and nodded. "It's called after a job and I don't feel like going home."

"Where do you go?"

"Why do you care?" she answered. "It's not like you understand, or want to experience it."

"Well what is there to experience?"

"Uh, clubbing, restaurants, and the typical things that Mud Men have, just better."

"How so?"

"It just is."

"I think you're biased," he commented. "Unless you've actually experienced some of each, it's not fair to judge." Still, Artemis couldn't believe his ears. Holly, _his _Holly, dancing in a club? It just didn't seem possible. "Besides, I can't see you clubbing. You're too tomboyish."

"It's called jeans with a cool belt and a top, Mud Boy. You don't have to wear skirts and dresses." _See, _she told herself, _I am not a prude. I dance!_

"Make up?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"But still some, apparently if you're saying not really."

"I guess. But why do you care?"

"I'm just curious, and besides," he said, "there's not too much to talk about. But I still don't see you as the dancing type."

"I would demonstrate if I wasn't in a dress."

"Really?" Artemis replied. "Shame."

Holly rolled her eyes. Some people just got worse as they grew older.

**Flight 379, United Airlines, over Europe, August 17**

Artemis Fowl Senior and Angeline Fowl were accompanied by Juliet to a spa in Italy. According to Angeline, it was one of the top spas and it would help Artemis Senior with his leg. They had been on the plane for over two hours, and were about to touch down in a Roman Airport. Angeline and Artemis Senior were talking, Juliet was reading a wrestling magazine, and all was quiet. Then there was the blast of the intercom, and the pilot spoke.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we are experiencing some turbulence. Please put on your seatbelts."

A flight attendant passed and collected all trash from lunch that was just a little while ago. The three handed their trash to the attendant, and then fastened their seatbelts. The plane jolted, and Juliet shut the window. She had had a bad feeling about this trip, and another one about this turbulence. If something was to happen, she didn't want to see it.

**August 17th, Operations Booth, Lower Elements, Eight Fifteen **

Foaly was looking for some sort of evidence to prove his machine could bring Holly and Artemis back. He knew they could back, just the how concerned him. It was lucky he kept records of everything, but he now had hundreds of years of detailed journals to go through now. Thankfully he could use a keyword search…

**Back to Mantua, Italy 1397 AD, Around Three in the Afternoon**

Artemis and Holly had been talking for hours, among other things like eating and everything. They had planned what to do when Balthasar came back, and what to do if Holly turned back into her fairy self before the two weeks when they would either leave for the chute or to the port, where they would travel. They had talked about history, about politics. But now Holly was bored. She had found out nothing unpredictable about Artemis at all. Nothing! She needed to know something about him to prove he could be normal. Anything, everything that proved he could be normal.

"So," Holly stated, "We've talked about me, politics, and fairy history, but nothing about you. Isn't there _anything _you want to tell me?"

"No," Artemis replied, "Unless you tell me what exactly you would like to know about me, Holly."

Holly smirked. This had possibilities. "Can I ask you anything?"

"Almost anything."

"Will you answer honestly?"

"Yes. Will you answer honestly to my questions?"

"You're asking me, too?"

"It's only fair."

Holly sighed. "Fine, Mud Boy. First question, we'll start off easy. Ever cussed?"

"In my thoughts, once or twice here. Never out loud."

"You? Cussing?" Holly was surprised. "What'd you say?"

"I'm not saying it out loud. Here's my question," Artemis said, thinking of all the daring questions he could ask Holly, "ever been kissed?"

"Yes. Same question."

"Yes. Twice." Artemis sighed.

_Aw, poor kid, _Holly thought. _He's only kissed me. This does have an advantage though._

"All right, Holly. Um, choose one place in the world where you would want to live."

"Ireland. You?"

"Same. Choose one place, if you lived in Ireland, where you would travel to."

"Somewhere tropical, not polluted. Like, maybe, a rural island of Hawaii? And, Artemis, if you could choose one person to live your life with, who would it be? They can't be related."

"Gosh, Holly, that's a hard question." Artemis thought. _Maybe Butler, but he would die soon, and if we're the only two people on earth there wouldn't be too much to talk about. Juliet would be too talkative…hmmm… _"Would there be books and things?"

"Nope. Just that person and needed things like food and water."

"Okay. What about a computer?"

"Maybe…"

"Uh…" _It's not like I have a friend to choose, since everyone at Saint Bartleby's is uninteresting and not the most intelligent. Maybe a fairy. Not Root, nor Foaly, he would get too annoying, so that leaves…Holly? _"You, I guess. I'm not exactly on good terms with that many people. Same question."

"Let's see…" Holly went through the same elimination process Artemis did. _They cant be related, not that I would want a relative anyway, not Root, even though he's like a father…Foaly would get annoying after a couple hours…maybe Trouble, he's pretty cool. Except he's a bit too quiet and doesn't open up. Frond, most of the people I wouldn't mind spending an eternity with are guys. Wonder why… But most of the guys I know are complete perverts or too fatherly or too talkative or too quiet and would be boring to live with for a lifetime.. Maybe a Mud Man. Oh, gods, I'm desperate if I choose a Mud Man. Not Butler, maybe Juliet, but she's too talkative and if we were the only two people on Earth, that would be hell, considering that she sounds like a flirty person. That leaves Artemis? But I can't say him, he said me. Oh, dammit, why can't I think of another person? "_You, too, I guess. Don't know why, exactly. Question- have you ever had romantic feelings for anyone?"

"Considering I have hit puberty, Holly, I have _looked _at girls, maybe lusted, but definitely not loved."

"Yeah, I could guess you've looked," Holly replied, remembering the thing with the dress the night before. "Let's screw this whole truth thing. Let's do dares!"

"As in the child's game, truth or dare?"

"So you _have _heard of it. Glad to see you've been exposed to child and teen culture!" she said sarcastically.

Artemis glared. "Fine. Truth or dare, Holly?"

"Dare. I doubt you can think of a good one."

Artemis paused for a second, first disputing whether he should play such a silly childhood game, then deciding he might as well. "Fine. I dare you to…um, um, um," he repeated the word for about a minute, "I give up," he resolved.

Holly smiled. "What, you aren't smart enough to think up a good dare? The irony. All right then, I dare you to…um, kiss something in this room."

Artemis paled. He looked at Holly, the dirt floor, the unwashed vegetables, the dirty table, the now rumpled sheets on the bed, the dusty cabinet, and then Holly's face again. He looked at the filthy ceiling, Holly's lips, the grimy stove, Holly's dresses in a corner, the door, the fingerprinted door knob, and Holly's face. Holly's face soon became all he could look at and when Holly looked back, all he could do was kiss her on the cheek.

"Artemis!" she said loudly, "I thought you didn't have any romantic feelings for any girl!"

"You said something," he replied, "and everything else was dirty."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Truth me."

Artemis was about to open his mouth when Balthasar walked through the door, carrying bread among other food items. He almost dropped them at the sight of Holly, but regained his composure and put them with on the table.

"Miss Juliet, I presume," he said, bowing to Holly. "Sorry for my sudden entrance."

"It's fine," she said, "pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's mine. And here, sir, I brought some food."

"I see," Artemis replied. "I thought you were to knock?"

"My apologies, sir, but my hands were filled with produce and bread. Would you two like some?"

"Yes," Holly answered, famished, but Artemis shook his head. "Juliet and I are going to take a walk," he said, acknowledging Holly.

"See you in a bit, sir."

"We'll be back after sundown," Artemis answered. He grabbed Holly's hand, pulled her out the door, and the two walked off, Artemis leading the way towards the east, away from the northern part of Mantua, towards the coast.

Author's Note: It took me forever to write this chapter, which I think is very slow. If you know geography, and you know what's on the eastern coast of Italy, you can guess what's next. ;-) Guess in your reviews, if you will. It'll be a while until I update again, because I'm going on vacation for two weeks and then I have to write. I purposely made this next thing easy to write, so it won't be as long a wait. I'm also going to rewrite the prologue because that's where I lose most of my readers, according to the hits stat. Updates will be farther and farther apart, due to the start of high school, and my life. Lol. Please review!


	14. Falling Stars

Author's Note: 118 reviews! Wow! I had an awesome vacation, for those who care, and the motivation for this chapter is from it. I got home Sunday, and started Tuesday due to a friend's huge party I went to…

Thanks to Queen Dragon, TRUEHOLLY-lol, Rebel Rose-aw thank you, Hunni Bunni-glad its an exception, nodoubtrox, PrincessBob-its in Italy, and the parent thing is new, AFG-yeah I know about exams-they SUCK lol, AgiVega, Literary Prima Donna- cool name, by the way-very creative, xxx.Pyro Eclipse.xxx and Rock 4ng3l.

* * *

**Recap**

"Yes," Holly answered, famished, but Artemis shook his head. "Juliet and I are going to take a walk," he said, acknowledging Holly.

"See you in a bit, sir."

"We'll be back after sundown," Artemis answered. He grabbed Holly's hand, pulled her out the door, and the two walked off, Artemis leading the way towards the east, away from the northern part of Mantua, towards the coast.

**End of Recap**

* * *

"Artemis," Holly protested. "Where are we going? I'm hungry!"

"You'll see," he replied, "I want to show you something."

They walked in silence towards his destination, and the sun started to set after more than three hours of silence. "Artemis," she said, "we haven't said a word in like, three hours. Will you _please_ tell me where we are going?"

"No, I won't tell you. You shall see."

Holly groaned. _Stupid stubborn Mud Boy! "_Can you at least give me a hint?"

"Fine," he stated. "What's on the eastern coast of Italy?"

Holly thought. She had never been that good at Mud Men geography. Fairy geography, yes, since to be a police officer you had to always know your surroundings. Mud Men geography she wasn't the best at. She had always used the programmer in her wings to get her there. She knew the continents, the oceans, and the major mountain ranges. Not the minor mountain ranges, not the seas, and not most of the little countries that they never mentioned. She sighed. "I don't know. I'm not the best at geography."

"Pity," Artemis said loftily. "You would have known then. It doesn't matter, though. We'll be there soon. Another half a mile, perhaps. Maybe more."

"And you're not complaining?"

"I would rather walk than be in a swordfight."

Holly nodded. She understood where he was coming from, but didn't necessarily agree.

It started getting breezy, which to Artemis for some unknown reason was suspicious but to Holly was relaxing. She had never spent much time above the surface for fun, save that one field trip, so this was nice. They reached a large hill, to Artemis's discontent. After climbing it, he stopped out of breath. Holly stopped as well, but for a different reason.

Ahead of them was sand, golden in the last of the sun's golden rays, and waves, tidal pools, and seagulls. "Whoa," she breathed at the spectacular site. She ran down, taking off her shoes, and running the hundred yards to the beach. Slowing at the sand, she took off her top dress as well, leaving a petticoat or two, but she didn't care. Artemis watched for a minute or two as Holly frolicked in the tidal pools, chased after seagulls, and jumped into the waves.

"Artemis!" she whined. "Come _on!"_

He walked, and then jogged down the hill, and sat in the sand. Normally he would have cared if he got his clothes all sandy, but he realized that since this wasn't an Armani and he didn't have to worry about how he looked, he could take the liberty. He chuckled as Holly got knocked over by a large wave, and then walked over as she swam to shore.

"I didn't know fairies could swim," he commented.

"I don't," she admitted, "its instinct. I'm what you Mud Men call doggy paddling, don't you see?" She pulled him into the water, but Artemis dug his feet into the sand to prevent her from getting him wet.

"Let me take some of this superfluous clothing off." He ran back to shore, took off his cape and shoes, and walked back over.

"Come on, Artemis, you're missing all the fun."

"I'm enjoying this, I assure you."

"That's not good enough, Mud Boy, you have to get wet." Holly grabbed his arm, and the weak boy genius was pushed into the water and knocked down by a small wave, to Holly's great amusement.

"That's not funny," he declared at Holly's chortling.

"Of course it is. Here, I'll show you how to move with the waves."

"No." Artemis pouted, getting out of the salty water. "Getting knocked down by a small wave with the force of a tsunami was good enough for me."

"You call that a force of a tsunami?" Holly retorted, pointing to one of the small waves similar to the one that had knocked Artemis out of the water. "Look at this one." Holly waded out to sea, about fifty feet offshore. The waves there were maybe five feet. She ducked under each one, coming up for breath after.

Artemis couldn't believe Holly was that good of a swimmer for her first try. "Are you _sure _they don't have pools in Haven?"

* * *

Holly would have answered, but a wave a foot or two larger than what she had been dodging hit her full force, knocking her over. Waves continued to come, so she was swallowing water, which tasted like she was swallowing the contents of a salt shaker with a little bit of water in it. She didn't come up for about a minute, and Artemis got worried. He knew the brain would need oxygen, and fast, but he wasn't the best swimmer, and the waves were getting higher. _High tide is coming, _he presumed. But, if he was to survive all this and get back to the future, he would have to rescue her. Holly was essential to getting back to 2003.

He struggled against the waves, almost falling in knee deep water about twenty feet from where Holly was thrashing in the waves. He kept going, however, and pulled her up. The first thing Holly did was cough up the sea water, and then breathe in a huge gulp of sea air. She glanced at Artemis, who was helping her up, with an astonished look upon her face. They walked back, Holly still breathing, and Artemis occasionally checking her.

They sat down in the sand, watching the sunset.

"Hey," Holly said after catching her breath, "thanks. I didn't know you had the guts to do that."

"Well, I did. You're welcome."

"Not just that, Mud Boy. For bringing me here too. I've never been to the ocean without having to do a mission, or fly."

"That makes two of us," he muttered.

Holly heard with her extra sensitive fairy senses. "No wonder you couldn't swim. Haven't you been to a pool?"

"And swim in chemicals? No thank you."

"You're so picky. We're lucky if we see a pond in Haven. The only rivers are lava, except for a couple rivers in amusement parks."

"You have amusement parks? With what?"

"Um, rides, food, booths, you know."

"I would if I actually went there."

"At thirteen, you've never been to an amusement park?"

"I would if I wanted to."

"You're missing out by being so standoffish to normal things."

"Like what?"

"What I just mentioned, social events, swimming, friends, stuff like that."

"I have friends," Artemis retorted, "or at least, they're friends to me."

"Names please."

"Well, you, Juliet, and Butler."

_Aw. I'm one of his three friends. _"I mean, seriously, you cant just like looking at stocks and surfing the web."

"I don't exactly surf. I hack."

"You and Foaly have a lot in common. The stubbornness, the arrogance, the obsession with computers…"

"I'm not obsessed."

"How much time do you spend a day on it?"

"Let's see. Eight hours sleep, normally, two hours eating with family, an hour with other things…leaving about thirteen hours. That's if there's nothing to do, of course."

"Frond, Artemis, don't you have a life? I don't even spend thirteen hours a week on it."

"What's your busy schedule then?"

"Uh, wake up sixish, breakfast, shower…at work at seven fifteen…lunch break at one fifteen, leave at seven forty five, dinner, sometimes I'll go out with friends…if not, then lounge, shower, sleep at um…ten."

"Very busy."

"Yep. Two six hour shifts. Hey, look at that," Holly said, pointing to a bird flying over the water, brown against the low orange sun. "What is that?"

"Pelican. A large, fish eating bird."

Holly rolled her eyes. "How many random facts do you know, anyway?"

"Well, the average brain can hold up to a trillion bits of information over a lifetime, and my brain is _far_ from average, so more than that."

"Of course." By now the sun had set and it was dusk, the stars twinkling on top as the last of the sun's rays plunged beneath the horizon. Holly fell back on the sand, staring at the sky.

"Holly, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like, Mud Boy?"

"Laying in the sand staring at the sky."

"Good, now I know you can figure out what's happening," she replied sarcastically.

"But why would you want to do that?"

"Why _not?"_

"Let's see, you get sand all over you, your hair becomes sandy…"

"How spoiled _are _you?"

"I don't know, Holly, most spoiled people don't think they're spoiled."

"Well you are. Who cares about getting dirty when you can take a shower later?"

"Well, actually, people rarely take showers or baths here."

"Shut up, I don't care!"

"Well, I do!"

"Do you, like, ever _shut up?"_

"I suppose so," Artemis replied loftily.

"Well do it then!"

"Fine," he groaned, joining Holly in the sand.

"Wow," Holly stated sarcastically, "Artemis, you are such a bloody hypocrite!"

"Who cares? Look at that!" Artemis beckoned to a falling star.

"It's pretty."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey, weren't we supposed to be back by sundown?"

"I forgot."

"So shouldn't we go now?"

"I wouldn't know my way in the dark, and I doubt you would either."

"You're so confident in other people."

Artemis nodded, although it was hard to see in the dark.

They both watched the falling stars in silence for what seemed like a couple minutes but actually was a couple hours. Holly stared up at the sky watching all the white streaks in the sky, lasting brief seconds. Soon she heard light breathing, and turned to see Artemis looking entirely peaceful. His eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open, and rolled on his side facing Holly. _He looks so, so normal. Wish he actually was. _Then she stopped. Then he wouldn't be the Artemis she had come to like, to appreciate, to even enjoy his company.

The red head watched him breathe slowly for several minutes then kissed his cool lips. "Good night, Artemis."

Artemis woke up at the sunrise, and turned to face the ocean. Holly was facing the other direction, sleeping quietly and on _her _side facing Artemis. "Morning, Holly," he whispered. Artemis stood up, and walked off towards the waves, running his feet through the cool surf of the Mediterranean Sea. After walking maybe a quarter mile south, he turned around, tired and hungry and cold from sleeping on the sand without any sort of cover.

"Holly?" he said, shaking her, "wake up."

She rolled over, groaning. "Artemis…it's…so…early."

"Yes, and we have to get back. Aren't you hungry at all, Holly?"

"Food?" she said, squinting her eyes.

"Yes, food."

"Mush…rooms?"

"Maybe, but we have to get back first."

"Back…home?"

"No, back to the hut."

"Hut?"

"Where we were talking, Holly. And the horse, remember?"

"Holly?"

"Yes, that's your name."

"No, Mud Boy," she said, opening her eyes and yawning, "the horse's name."

"That's weird," he commented.

"Yep."

"Now get up. The sooner you get up, the sooner you can eat."

"Fine." Holly sat up. "Hey, look at that."

"It's the sun."

"No, it's a flaming orange ball coming to hit the earth. I meant that," she said, pointing at three jumping shapes in the ocean.

"Oh."

"What are those? Dolphins?"

"Maybe. Or porpoises. Shall we go, then?"

"Wait a second. I want to see."

Artemis sighed. "All right. Three minutes."

"Until they leave."

"Aren't you hungry at _all?_"

"I can live."

"Lucky you," he groaned.

Soon the animals left, and Artemis and Holly went on their way. Artemis remembered quite well where to go, since there had even been some of their footprints in the mud. Holly's actually. "Man, Holly, you have small feet."

"Do not!"

"Maybe not in the fairy world, but here you do. Look at this." Artemis put his footprint next to Holly's, his maybe four or five inches(which is about fifteen centimeters for you metric people) longer than her tiny footprint.

"Who cares, Mud Boy?"

"You do, apparently, but let's get going." Artemis walked off, Holly running easily to catch up with him.

"You know, you do run really slow for someone with big feet."

"Maybe its my lack of caring about my muscular structure."

"What Root would say to you if he heard that…"

"What would he say?" Artemis asked, helping Holly over a large log.

"You don't have to do that, I can do it myself."

"A gentleman would."

Holly snorted. "Yeah, that's you," she replied sarcastically. "Root would say you were a disgrace to the fairy race, if you were a fairy, and would evict you on some random charge unless you joined a gym."

"Funny, then why is Foaly working there?"

"His invention skills, I guess. He's too priceless for Root to kick him out. But if he heard that, I would never live it down."

"I bet."

The two talked about random things like the weather and fairy customs and the environment, until, finally, they crossed the last hill and stared at the village.

"Almost there, right?" Holly asked, rubbing her stomach. "I'm starving."

"I think so. Look, see, that's Holly," he replied, pointing to a red horse next to the one he had ridden with Balthasar.

Holly ran down to the cottage, bursting through the door, and grabbing a piece of bread to shove in her mouth. "Artemis," she yelled, "Let's eat!" She watched as Artemis walked through the door, very pale, and was about to hand him a piece of bread, but he collapsed in the doorway.

* * *

Author's Note: Please review! I might not update for a while, I'm starting school on Monday and I still need to do lots.

Please review!


	15. A Slap is Worth a Thousand Words

Author's Note: 129 reviews! Wow! Sorry for the long wait, but high school is really demanding. Two and a half hours of homework each night, and its only the first week! I try to write on the weekdays, but its usually only a paragraph or two and maybe some dialogue. I do most of my writing on the weekends.

Thanks to Queen Dragon, -Rock 4ng3l- you're an amazing predictor, you got it right ;), Rebel Rose, -anon-anon-anon- of course I will, AFG, Flaming Ninja, crazygirliecaptain, Literary Prima Donna, katy, Zarroc, and welovechocolate.

Again, CoffeeandCherryBrandy: I am glad to hear you think Artemis is now in character. After several people telling me he was OOC, I rewrote all the chapters in which people thought he was out of it. You said I was paying no attention to the _Romeo and Juliet _plot? I'm off the story. The only thing that is remaining is the character of Balthasar and the cottage. When Holly rides to see Artemis, she ruins Artemis's plan and therefore takes us off the plot. I wrote Holly like this to show she has a fun side, in some way. And the beach scene: Artemis did not know he was going there for sure. He knew that Mantua was a port town, and since he was heading west, away from the overhead sun, so he would hit the sea eventually. He did not know how long, or if he would get there by sunset. He explores for the same reason he doesn't say anything to Holly when he first reencounters her in _The Opal Deception: _Several observations can save your life. If Holly did turn back into her fairy self before either of the deadlines, they would have to flee and take an uninhabited route to the chute. Holly is happy about going to the beach because she never has time for herself in the fairy world when she's working above the surface, so she realizes that this could be the only time she could see this much without having to worry about Root, or shielding from humans. This a good enough explanation?

* * *

**Recap**

Holly ran down to the cottage, bursting through the door, and grabbing a piece of bread to shove in her mouth. "Artemis," she yelled, "Let's eat!" She watched as Artemis walked through the door, very pale, and was about to hand him a piece of bread, but he collapsed in the doorway.

**End of recap**

* * *

"Artemis!" she screamed.

When she saw no reply, she realized he had fainted. She ran outside, to the well, and filled a bucket of water, shrieking when she splashed some of the cold liquid on herself.

If this wasn't such a shocking situation, Holly would have laughed when she splashed Artemis with over a gallon of cold water on his face. But when Artemis did not sit up and yell at Holly as a reaction, nor react to it at all, she became even more worried. She could consider several options, some of which were more risky, and some she just did not want to do. She could wait for Artemis to wake up, but if he didn't in the next couple minutes, she would have to do something else. Shaking him was a possibility, as was the crude alternative of punching him in the hopes of waking him up. There was CPR, but she had no plans of doing that. She didn't want to be near Artemis's mouth twice in twenty four hours.

Holly looked at the drenched Irish boy for a moment, and tried talking to him first. "Artemis…wake up…" she said loudly, shaking him simultaneously. "I'm sorry I got you wet like this, I figured it would wake you up, but obviously, you're still unconscious, so…ummmm…." Holly scratched her head, thinking again about her options. "Artemis!" she yelled into his ear, "wake up, dammit!" Artemis remained still. She pulled back his right eyelid, the eye staying still. She would wait, but her patience was wearing out. She yelled at him one more time, looked at the Mud Boy, and decided to pursue her last option: CPR. She opened his mouth, and dreaded what she was about to do.

After about a minute, Artemis sat up, surprising Holly immensely. "You okay?" she asked.

He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at his fingernails as if deciding whether they were still in good condition. "Fine, except a bit hungry."

"A bit? You fainted."

"Well, that was a side effect."

Holly again rolled her eyes. "Admit it, Mud Boy, you're starving."

"I'm not starving. I haven't gone more than a day without food, and I am not close to death due to lack of food. I would prefer having water right now, since my thirst is greater than my hunger."

"Here, I'll get some. Go rest."

She poured him a glass of water and sliced some bread.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"About five to ten minutes."

"That's a bit long. You would think cold water would wake me up," Artemis replied, holding up a strand of his sopping black hair.

"Well, it didn't."

"What other methods did you try?"

"Uh, let's see, shaking you, yelling at you-"

"Which you enjoyed, I suppose?"

"Honestly, I was worried at first, but it was fun, yeah."

Artemis shook his head slightly. "Typical. Is that how I came about?"

"No, CPR."

"Interesting, I thought you wouldn't have done that," he said while raising his eyebrows.

"It was a last resort."

"You're right, I just would have rather woken up at the water, or being yelled at by a fairy."

"You're so formal, you know that?"

"Where does this come from?"

"Things like 'would have rather', refusing to end a sentence with a preposition, 'suppose,' refusing to admit anything that would weaken you…"

"A person should never admit their faults, and besides, good speaking skills are important."

Holly snorted. "Admitting your faults can be good. Try it."

"No. I would rather eat more food."

"Pig."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Who cares? Teenagers are supposed to have larger than normal appetites."

"I thought you weren't a _normal_ teenager."

"Intelligence wise, no. Appetite, yes. Food tastes, no."

"So you're somewhat normal?"

"No."

"But you just said your appetite was normal, and two other things were not, so that makes you one third normal, which is…ah…thirty something percent."

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Thirty three point three repeating, actually."

"Who cares?"

"Most mathematicians, myself…"

"Close enough. Frond, Artemis, do you ever shut up?"

"Why, yes. Sleeping, eating, and thinking."

"So think now! Or eat! Or sleep!"

"About what? We already planned to get out of here, and we have several options."

"I wanna go _home!" _

"And so do I!"

"At least I have something to go back to!"

"And I don't?"

"What do _you _have?" retorted Holly for no particular reason at all, besides the fact that she was homesick.

"Family, Butler, Juliet, decent food, not to mention a computer…"

"Who cares about a computer, Artemis?"

"I do, in fact, it happens to be one of my favorite possessions. And Holly, we have had this conversation before, must we again? I can see you're homesick, Holly, don't blame it on me."

"Don't blame it- don't blame it on you! You're the one who got us into this mess!"

"Foaly built the time machine, Holly."

"Yeah, I know _that, _but you- you did extensive research to find out things you shouldn't have-like us! No human has ever discovered us, stole our Book, kidnapped one, in other words _me, _stole half a ton of metric gold, built a Cube from our technology…I mean, Frond, Artemis, the list goes on and on."

"Well, the clues were there if you really wanted to find them, and I do have my doubts about kidnapping you Holly, I've told you this before, now can we _please _change the subject?" The topic was getting closer and closer to Artemis's humane side, and he did _not_ want it that way.

"One more question," Holly persisted. "One more, then your choice of conversation. Just one."

"Agreed," he sighed.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Why did you kidnap me?"

"Because," he groaned, "because I wanted to meet one and get rich off it. Honestly, I didn't think you fairies would be so, so human like."

"We are not!"

"You aren't, Holly, you're smarter. You've evaded discovery for hundreds, thousands of years, you've better technology, better transportation, heck, the fairies took me back in time six hundred and six years! I've been trying to build a time machine for three years, and who knows how old it is? Foaly had it stashed for ages. But you have personality, you can talk, you can…"

"Uh, thanks, I guess." _What is he doing? First he's yelling, then being honest, then complimenting…What's his goal? To get me feeling so many things at once I just want…_

"No, Holly, no guessing," he said, shaking her from her thoughts, "we cant guess now, things are too indefinite. To guess would make them even more."

"Gods, Artemis, how old are you? That's like way beyond your years."

He did his little "I'm a genius" shrug after saying, "Thirteen and seven months."

"If things are so, indefinite, then why aren't we just going to the chute?"

"I thought you wanted to travel."

"Don't you?" He was the one who had come up with the idea, after all.

"Yes, but, its too dangerous. What if you turn into a short little red thing-"

Holly rolled her eyes. "I thought you were _mature."_

"A fairy, and who wants to imagine the consequences? These people believe in witches, for heaven's sake."

"Well, it's the same concept as fairies, isn't it? The whole magic deal and shrinking two feet all of a sudden."

"I suppose."

"Stop saying suppose, dammit! It's getting on my nerves!"

"What else is a synonym for suppose without being too childish?"

"I don't know! I don't care! Just stop saying it!"

"Hmm, guess is too childish, suppose I can no longer say-but why does it annoy you?"

"Artemis, you're not in a business meeting or presenting a paper!"

"What about presume, assume, understand, believe so, expect, deduce, infer, hypothesize, consider, think is also childish?"

"Will you stop acting like a human dictionary?"

"I do have a very large vocabulary."

Was Artemis doing this on purpose? "Shut up! You're getting on my nerves!"

"Choose a word."

"You stupid idiot Mud Boy!"

"That's not on the list," he smirked.

"Just use a variety, Frond, is it really that important?"

"I suppose not."

"Stop saying it!"

"Why?"

If Artemis hadn't fallen unconscious, she would have punched him. She didn't know why she didn't. He would not shut his mouth, or do anything even close to it. It was getting to the point where all he did was annoy her. "Mud Boy, is it your purpose in life to annoy me?"

"I don't know."

"Answer yes or no, either you do or you don't!"

"Well, its obvious I annoy you, but I don't understand why."

"Because you act like it's your sole purpose in life to be rattling off facts like a computer, or a textbook. You act like such a friggin know-it-all!"

"I do know almost everything."

If Holly hadn't punched him then, she would have punched him now. But she did feel a tad sorry for the Mud Boy, so instead she resorted to the next best thing.

"Ow," Artemis said in response, rubbing a now scarlet spot on his cheek, "do you have to slap people so hard?"

"Only if they deserve it," she retorted with a wink.

"Did I?"

"Obviously if I slapped you. Would you rather have me deck you, that's always fun, too."

Artemis was about to say a witty retort, but when Holly's skin turned darker and darker, her ears became pointier, and she started shrinking at about an inch every five seconds. At the point where she had withered away to four feet, he let out a scream.

* * *

Author's Note: dum dum dum…big suspenseful music heehee, evil cliffhanger! If you want to know what's happening, if you want to get it soon, then review! The more reviews, the faster I write your next lil chapter which _should _include the fate of Holly unless I'm really evil ;-)

Please review!


	16. Knives and Ropes

Author's Note: 140 reviews, including lots of threats to update. To answer your questions, I **_am _**a girl. My name is Priscilla…

_**Artemis is a bit OOC **in this chapter,_ I know. So please don't flame me about it, it's purposeful, and it has a reason.

My story is now over 100 pages….

Thanks to Rebel Rose: haha nice threat…, gottensj, -anon-anon-anon, angelmyyumi- and I'm not trying to make her sound stupid, you'll see more of her smart side in this chapter, she's just homesick and tired of being stuck with Artemis-or so she says ;), Queen Dragon, Rock 4ng3l, twix, PrincessBob-haha thank you, Kaye and

* * *

**Ruh-ruh-ruh-recap lol my lil spaz there :-) **

"Ow," Artemis said in response, rubbing a now scarlet spot on his cheek, "do you have to slap people so hard?"

"Only if they deserve it," she retorted with a wink.

"Did I?"

"Obviously if I slapped you. Would you rather have me deck you, that's always fun, too."

Artemis was about to say a witty retort, but when Holly's skin turned darker and darker, her ears became pointier, and she started shrinking at about an inch every five seconds. At the point where she had withered away to four feet, he let out a scream.

**End of Recap**

* * *

**Dun dun dun… Flight 379, European Airlines**

Juliet was shaking in her seat. The turbulence had gone on for about five minutes now, and it was getting pretty bad. The airline attendant had demonstrated what to do in case they crashed, and everyone was screaming…

* * *

**Mantua, Italy, 1397**

"What's happening?" Holly replied, obviously oblivious to her size, "Holy shit! I'm shrinking!"

"Good observation," Artemis said, looking down at the now forty inch Holly, "you're almost back to normal."

"Shit, Artemis I was really looking forward to going somewhere."

"We're still going somewhere."

"Greece?"

"No, the chute." If he used colloquiums like duh, he would had used one there. Sometimes being an ultra mature genius was a _bad _thing.

"No, duh, Artemis. Shouldn't we be following the _plan_?" Holly thought that Artemis, who invented the plan in the first place would remember, but no…

"Oh. Right." He hurriedly grabbed some food, stuffed it into a bag, glancing at Holly, who was buried in her once well fitted dress. "What are we gonna do about you?"

"What about me? We already talked about where to go and everything."

He pointed at the dress. "You can't ride with me in this."

"Oh, yeah. Are we expecting Balthasar anytime soon?"

"He probably left."

"Do you have a needle? And scissors?"

"They wouldn't have invented scissors yet. What do you mean?" Artemis glanced around the room, shuffling through boxes and bins.

"I can alter this to make it fit."

"How long will it take?"

"An hour, max." Frond, did Artemis know nothing about fixing things?

"Hurry." He tossed her a knife and a needle from a box he had noticed.

"You'll need to help me."

"How?"

"With the fitting and everything." _What, he expects me to cut a dress and make it straight **and **fit me by myself? What does he know…_ Holly thought.

"Fun."

Holly first sheared off the extra part of the dress, taking out the extra petticoats and what would be too long on the bottom. It was a lot of fabric, considering she had shrunk sixty centimeters (two feet for all those Americans like me!). "Frond, I was so hot in this thing, it felt like I was in an oven or something."

"You looked good in it," he muttered, blushing.

"Aw, thanks, Artemis. I didn't know you liked people who wore dresses."

"My mother wears dresses," he said softly.

"How sweet…do you miss her?"

"What do you think?" He replied sarcastically. It was an obvious answer, except that she didn't know his mother that well, since she had only met her once, but still, he wasn't always this smart, emotionally retarded person, he did have a softer side.

Holly nodded. "Here, hold this," she replied, grasping about a foot of fabric where the waistline would be. It was turning into a very modern dress, with it ending at the knees. "Pity I don't have the time to turn this into something more comfortable. Shorts and a shirt would be nice."

"If people saw you, they would freak out if they saw someone willingly showing that much leg. They'll hate it like this."

"People are going to see me? I thought we were leaving at night."

"The whole point of riding into the night is so people don't see you."

"Right." Holly cut off the excess fabric from where her waist used to be. "Damn, did I really fit into that? It seems so…_ big._"

"Quite well."

Holly quickly stitched the pieces together, and did it again to ensure it would hold. "It would really suck if this fell apart."

"Mmmhmmm."

Ignoring his comment, she held up the excess arm fabric and grabbed his hand. "Now hold this." She dropped his hand, which quickly grasped the fabric. "Do you think this is too loose for modern fashion?"

"A bit." Artemis didn't care either way, but the prospect of seeing Holly in something skin tight was tempting.

"That good enough?"

"Bit more." Artemis grabbed the fabric so it would be almost like a second skin.

"Is it you thinking it would be fashion appropriate, or do you want me to be in something skin tight?" When Artemis didn't answer, she stated, "You perv!"

He rolled his eyes. "Holly, I was supposed to hit puberty three days ago. It was bound to happen soon."

"How fun is this gonna be? I have to straddle a perverted Mud Boy for over an hour on horseback."

"Very fun."

"Shut it, Mud Boy."

"Actually, now," he said loftily, "I am not a Mud _Boy. _I am a Mud _Teenager."_

"I thought in human cultures you were a Mud Teenager at the age of thirteen. And besides, you'll always be a little know-it-all Mud _Boy_ to me," she teased.

"If you're going to call me names, at least call me by my given name, Holly dear."

"If you're trying to flirt with me, Artemis, you really suck at it."

"It's my first try. Don't worry, I'll get better at it soon."

Holly rolled her eyes. It was going to be a _long _night.

The dress was almost finished. All she had to do was sew the altered back together and they could leave. Artemis had put the bags on Holly the horse and had saddled it and everything. Servant's work, yes, but necessary. "Here, let me help you." He grabbed her hand and picked her up on the hips so she could put her foot into the stirrup and hoist herself up.

"Isn't it funny?" Holly asked.

"What?"

"When I got here, my hair grew about two feet and I ended up in a dress. When I changed back, I was still in that dress and my hair's almost to the back of my knees." This having long hair as a fairy was new for her, but it wasn't that bad. Since she was little it had never been below her neck.

"Should we cut it? I have a knife."

"Oh. Yeah, of course." She grabbed his hand and held him tight as he lowered her the three feet to the ground.

"Shouldn't you, a tomboy, jump down?" he pondered as she landed feet first on the ground.

"_You _try jumping down from something twice your height. I doubt you would do it."

"In other words, jumping from a height of one hundred and sixteen inches? There is no way, Holly dear, I just thought that you would be brave and that you, the daring LEPrecon officer, would."

"Stop calling me dear!"

"Your choice, dear or suppose. Take your pick."

"Fine. Don't say suppose."

"All right, Holly dear. Shall we cut your long locks?"

"We? You're going to have to cut it if it's going to look straight."

"How long?"

"Well, people here tend to have longer hair, but let's try to modernize it a bit."

"How so?"

"Maybe make a little over shoulder length." She put her hand below her shoulder blade on her back. "No shorter than the second finger. I would just use the finger, but…" She smiled. Surely Artemis, however teenage culturally lacking he was, could figure that one out!

* * *

"Ok." Artemis took a deep breath, and took the knife to her hair. "Stay still. I'm cutting." After a second to wait to see if she would respond, he sheared off a good foot of the auburn waves. He would have closed his eyes, but if the line wasn't straight, she would kill him. And he did not want to die in a foreign country, alone, without seeing his parents again, but most of all, before he was even supposed to be born.

"Much better," Holly sighed. "It was tickling the back of my knees."

"The great Holly Short is ticklish? This has possibilities." In his thoughts, he laughed, but he retained his look of no emotions.

"Do anything. Mud Boy, and you'll learn what a real punch feels like."

"I thought I had, after being succumbed to at least three of yours."

"Let's see if you cut it straight." She flipped her hair and glanced at the line it made. "Good job. Pretty straight. Maybe you have a future in haircutting."

"I do not!"

"Whatever. Should we do bangs? Do you have a brush?"

"No."

"Okay, then, let's go."

They were about to open the door when Balthasar walked through the door. He looked at Artemis, then at the brown figurine. At first came a look of surprise, then shock, then anger… "Romeo? What the bloody hell is this?"

"Uh…" Artemis was at a loss for words. "Juliet?"

Balthasar looked at Holly once more, seeing that if this was Juliet she had shrunken two feet, changed skin color, cut her hair, and wore a dress that was very inappropriate. Never in his life had he seen so much skin below the torso! There was only one option: he had to warn the villagers. He looked around the room, saw the two chairs, saw a cord of rope in the box and a knife in Romeo's hand. He grabbed Juliet, tied her hands together, and tied her to the chair. Taking the knife, he cut the rope there, and tied Artemis to the chair as well. Then, he took the knife with him as he ran out the door, all the while screaming "Witch! Witch!" into the night.

* * *

Author's Note: I finished this chapter like three days ago, but I wanted to think and see if it would be better to have this ending or add on to it. Obviously, I decided to add on to it, not just because of my laziness, but also I get more reviews when I have a cliffhanger. Hint, hint-update! I would love to have over 150 reviews, which might motivate me to write a sequel, but it wont come until after the school year is over. But I'm only maybe two third's finished. Oh, well…

Please review!


	17. Fire, Wind, and Water

Author's Note: 149 reviews! Wow, people! You rock! Especially glitterstar! I fixed everything. Thank you. I think its right, so it's safe to read. Apparently when I rewrote the chapters I messed up uploading them, so everything was all screwed up. Lol.

Thanks to glitterstar, who helped me lots, and was the only person to tell me how horribly I reposted after I rewrote. Also to ROcK 4ng3l, Zarroc, hogwartscharmed1, PrincessBob, Umi, Agivega-yeah, I loved that part too, and Queen Dragon.

* * *

**Recap**

Balthasar looked at Holly once more, seeing that if this was Juliet she had shrunken two feet, changed skin color, cut her hair, and wore a dress that was very inappropriate. Never in his life had he seen so much skin below the torso! There was only one option: he had to warn the villagers. He looked around the room, saw the two chairs, saw a cord of rope in the box and a knife in Romeo's hand. He grabbed Juliet, tied her hands together, and tied her to the chair. Taking the knife, he cut the rope there, and tied Artemis to the chair as well. Then, he took the knife with him as he ran out the door, all the while screaming "Witch! Witch!" into the night.

**End of recap :-D**

* * *

After Balthasar left screaming, Artemis was nervous, the most nervous he had been in his life. If it hadn't been for his vast amount of knowledge, particularly in math, science, and history, he wouldn't have been so nervous. But he did know that in most cases, particularly in England and the North American continent(there was no United States, people, that would be for another, uh, three hundred and seventy nine years :P), the fate of the people accused as witches or the accomplices of the witches named, were burnt at the stake. One incident, the Salem Witch Trials of 1693, came to mind. He hoped his fate wouldn't be that way, and though the chances were slim that they both could get out of this situation, Holly's chances-and in that case his- were slim.

"Artemis?" Holly asked. "Don't you have _any _of those ideas of yours that always save everyone?"

Artemis thought. But he couldn't get the idea of being burnt alive out of his head. "No, sorry Holly. My fate is looming. It's too big of a fate to forget."

"What fate?" Holly was perplexed. Never had she been in a situation like this before.

"What happens after this accusation, per say."

"You mean that bastard calling me a witch?"

"Obviously you find it insulting."

"Well if he's going to call me something that Mud Men think don't exist, it should be a fairy."

"Well, they think witches _do _exist."

"And not wizards?" She pouted. How unfair!

"Men are considered witches too."

"Haha." Holly laughed. "Hey, what happened to your whole little, 'I'm a Mud Teenager pervert who just hit puberty' act?"

"The thought of being burned alive suppresses it."

"We're gonna be burnt alive?" Holly shrieked, trying unsuccessfully to stand up. "We have to get out of here!"

"That's my point, Holly. But why didn't you _mesmer _him?"

"I didn't get good enough eye contact. And honestly, I didn't think of it at the time."

"But you're supposed to be the quick thinking, best captain of the LEP Holly Short!"

"And you're supposed to be the great thinking Artemis Fowl the Second!" she retorted. "I'm the best captain?" She said after a pause. "Thanks. But think of a plan, dammit!"

"The only thing I can think of right now is that we hop as far as we can away from here. Wait." A strange expression went across Artemis's face. "What are ropes typically made of?"

"Depends. Normally nylon, but they probably haven't developed that yet- or have they?"

"Not until 1939." (A/N: Yes, I did look that up. I 3 google.)

"Smart ass."

"Am not!"

"Then where the hell do you get all these facts?"

"Is this really relevant? I have an idea."

"Go on…"

"Well, if these ropes are made of plant fiber, couldn't we at least hop out to the horse and let her chew it off? I mean, they aren't that thick yet."

"It depends on what they are made of."

"Either cotton or some other plant fiber, but lets try, shall we? It's not like we have that many alternatives."

"I'll go first," declared Holly. "I have more to lose."

"Fine," he sighed. He watched as Holly comically dragged her chair against the dirt floor and shoved it open as she hopped. Soon there was the sound of neighing, and Artemis could only hope.

* * *

Holly was annoyed. It really hurt to jump while tied to a heavy wooden chair that was probably one quarter of her weight at least and do it quickly. Luckily she had adrenaline running through her veins. She somehow opened the heavy door and made it out to the other side of the cottage where Holly the horse was. She didn't want to talk to the horse, her tone would be too annoyed, and besides, if the Mud Man came back she would seem like even _more _of a witch if she was caught neighing to a horse. She put her chair back to the horse, who neighed. Holly translated it as "Hello. What am I supposed to do?" She tried to turn around, pointed to rope, and pretended to bite.

Obviously the horse understood, because after Holly turned around, there was a loud chomping sound. She pulled at her arms, tugging at the ropes, and heard a ripping sound. Running towards the house, she said thank you, and saw Artemis, who looked extremely happy, at the least. He actually had a smile on his face! A smile of relief, but a smile at that.

"You did it!" he said as she undid the knot.

"Yeah. Now let's go."

Artemis gave her a quick but tight hug, slightly picking her up, and ran out the door, Holly running behind him.

* * *

Artemis boosted Holly up on the horse, right as he heard yelling and saw light in the distance. Holly held out her coffee colored hand and yanked him up, right as a leader of a mob rushed towards them. He watched as Holly kicked the horse, who ran away swiftly to the west at a gallop. It was extremely bumpy for Artemis, who had only ridden a horse twice before in his life-once with Balthasar and when he was five and his mother made him ride one of those ridiculous ponies at the zoo.

"Where are we going?" he asked, holding on tightly to Holly.

"The chute, duh."

"But isn't it north?"

"We have to stay away from the roads, and so we have to head west."

"Couldn't we go east, where the beach was?"

"More likely than not, we would hit some obstacle. Doesn't Italy have cliffs?" It was getting harder for Holly to talk, she had to concentrate.

"Yes…"

"All right then, Mud Boy, shut up and let me steer!"

Artemis would have pouted, except he realized that if he were to let go of Holly, there was a chance of him getting bumped off, and an even higher chance of injury. So instead, he held on even tighter, even as the horse slowed down.

After about an hour of riding, Holly heard the sound of water and slowed the pace to a walk. When the horse stopped when the sound of water was loudest, she said, "Artemis, I'm getting off, okay?"

After five seconds of no response, she repeated, "Artemis? Hello?"

* * *

The only response was a soft snore. Holly giggled. The Mud Boy snored! He collapsed upon the horse and Holly lead the horse to the stream, where she drank heavily. It was a nice area, deserted, with no signs of civilization and the only noise being the sound of water.

Holly took one of the bags, which had been filled with a dress, and laid it across the smooth grass. She took a second dress and lumped it into a pillow. Looking at the Mud Boy, she tapped the only thing she could reach: his foot.

"Artemis, wake up, we're here…Artemis…" She continued tapping his foot but now even harder. "Artemis!...get UP! Now!"

He was still snoring, surprisingly, and Holly couldn't just let him sleep there. She pulled him down off of the horse, landing Artemis in the grass.

"Ow," he said in response, rubbing his head. "What was that for?"

"You fell asleep."

"Riding? I think not."

"Well, you did, Mud Boy, and I had to wake you up."

"So violently?"

"You wouldn't wake up otherwise."

"Really? Apparently your fairy wake up methods weren't good enough."

"It's not like I can reach that far." She pouted. Although she would never admit it to Artemis, being human had its advantages. Being able to reach things aboveground was one of them.

"What did you do?"

"Tap your foot. It was the only thing I could reach."

"Like that would work."

"It would have if you were a dwarf, Mud Boy."

"Because of their sensitive skin?"

"Who cares? I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

"Is that what you call a bed?"

"Make shift bed, but yeah."

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"You can sleep in the creek for all I care."

"I'm insulted, Holly, I thought you would be nice enough to at least share."

"I don't share with Mud Men." Holly almost wished it was light out, so she could see the look on the Mud Boy's face. It must be shocked. It was pretty amusing.

"So where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Well, you can't mess up any more of my dresses, so I guess the grass."

"But I'll get dirty!" he protested.

"Wow, Artemis Fowl the Second getting dirty? What happened to your whole maturing deal? I was hoping to see some manliness coming from you."

"What kind of manliness, Holly?" he teased.

"Not _that _kind of manliness, you disgusting Mud Boy, like maturity."

"Some mature people don't like getting dirty."

"Deal with it. It's not like you're not going to take a long shower and go to a spa after we get back."

"_If _we get back."

"Stop being such a pessimist, Artemis, and go to bed."

"Again, where?"

Holly was getting aggravated by his constant complaints. If he were to sleep in the grass, he would probably complain the next day, and she probably wouldn't be able to tolerate it all. However, if she were to allow Artemis to share a blanket with her, it would show she could stand him. If they heard about this back home… But they weren't back home yet, and if they didn't hear about it, they would never know. What Foaly and Root didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right? "All right, Mud Boy. One night, and not a word to anyone. Don't hog the blankets."

Artemis sighed with relief. He was almost convinced that he would have had to sleep in the grass. Who knew Holly would give in? "Thanks, Holly. I'll try not to snore, too."

"Shut up, Mud Boy, before I'll change my mind. And _I _get the pillow." She turned her head towards the creek, wrapping herself in the blankets.

"Sleeping on a hard surface is good for me anyway." He also tugged at the blankets so he had an equal share. "Night, Holly."

"Night." Holly pulled back on the blankets. Once again, it was going to be a long_, long _night.

* * *

Artemis stared at the sky, the total view slightly obstructed by tree leaves, but still showing some stars. Even though it limited his stargazing, he was glad for the cover, which would prevent some of the cold air from hitting him hard. Glancing at the night's peach tinted moon, he noticed the rays from it fell on Holly's face, creating a soft glow. He turned back towards the sky, looking at all the constellations and the patterns they made, and smiled. After a while he heard Holly's quiet but even breathing, and turned on his side facing the path they had traveled. He was warm, he was content, but most of all he was with Holly.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait for the chapter, but I was _really _hoping for 150 reviews before posting. I also had lots of homework this weekend, not to mention things to do with my friends. I hoped you liked it, I put a lot of thought into the wording, particularly into the last little bit, which hinted at something. Lol. Please review, I want 160 reviews before I'm posting again. At least. Lol.

Please review!


	18. Snuggling

Author's Note: I finally got a 166 reviews:-D Sorry for the long update, but if you reviewed faster you probably would have gotten it sooner. It doesn't help that I was busy all weekend with parties and stuff. I had homecoming and loads of essays to write. Lol. I'm glad lots of you liked the last paragraph, I did too. Oh, and some of the content in this chapter may be considered similar to Agivega's _The Aztec Incident._ I did get some ideas from there, but they're not straight from the story. They're similar…

Another reason for this slow update was writer's block. You understand, right? Right?

Thanks to Zarroc, hogwartscharmed1, Rebel Rose, -anon-anon-anon-, -RoCK 4ng3l, Queen Dragon, chocolate smudge, Lucifer, anonymous- who reviewed 3 times, PrincessBob, an-angel-in-hell, RECONbabe, ravenmasteroftele, lxilightand Scottish Ninja.

**Recap**

"Sleeping on a hard surface is good for me anyway." He also tugged at the blankets so he had an equal share. "Night, Holly."

"Night." Holly pulled back on the blankets. Once again, it was going to be a long_, long _night.

Artemis stared at the sky, the total view slightly obstructed by tree leaves, but still showing some stars. Even though it limited his stargazing, he was glad for the cover, which would prevent some of the cold air from hitting him hard. Glancing at the night's peach tinted moon, he noticed the rays from it fell on Holly's face, creating a soft glow. He turned back towards the sky, looking at all the constellations and the patterns they made, and smiled. After a while he heard Holly's quiet but even breathing, and turned on his side facing the path they had traveled. He was warm, he was content, but most of all he was with Holly.

**End of recap…**

* * *

Holly was content. She didn't want to wake up fully, that would mean she would have to move away from the warm and comfortable position. She was warm, even though she was on the edge of the makeshift bed. She had no plans of opening her eyes yet, even though she had already felt the warm early morning rays upon her face. It probably was maybe seven in the morning, she could hear the faint sound of birds chirping and the louder rustling of leaves among the rushing water created the perfect place. Keeping her eyes closed, she yawned as she stretched, preparing for the day. "Ow," she muttered. Her right elbow hit something. A very hard something.

She opened her eyes, rubbing her elbow. Holly looked to her right, and gaped. Artemis was there, almost snuggling, and very close. He was still sleeping, slowly breathing, yet still was snuggling. Holly did not snuggle, especially with someone named Artemis Fowl. So _that's _what caused the warmth. She rolled away, and watched as Artemis moved closer to her. She stopped, thinking of the possibilities. Holly moved again, towards the creek, and glanced as Artemis followed. Continuing towards the creek, Holly watched and stood up as Artemis idiotically rolled into the cold, rushing water.

"What?" Artemis said, gulping a mouthful of creek water, "where am I?"

"You're in a creek, silly."

"No, really, Holly. But why?"

"Because you rolled over here…" Holly replied innocently, hiding a smirk.

"But how?"

"You rolled over on your side several feet until you landed in the creek."

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"Because…"

"You thought it would be funny, I suppose?"

Holly nodded.

"Why?"

Holly sighed. She didn't want to admit that was he had been doing bothered her, but now she could tease him. Hmm…what to say… "Uh…maybe because you _deserved _it?"

"What did I do?" he replied.

"You were snuggling me!"

"I was not," he argued.

"Then why were you up against me when I woke up?" Artemis blushed. Holly laughed. It was a weird, reddish, almost cherry blush covering his entire face, even his eyelids, almost to the point where it was disturbing. "What the hell…" Holly said. "Your hands are red!"

Artemis rolled his eyes. "I'm blushing, Holly."

"Your face is supposed to be red, not your hands."

He looked down, and got even redder. "You're saying I was, ah, snuggling? I don't snuggle. Sorry."

"What do you mean, 'sorry?'" Holly retorted, hands on her hips. "I would have been glad if you didn't!"

"Well, I didn't snuggle, and I have yet to, but least of all with you."

"Good." He turned around, facing the horse, who was watching them intently. "How'ld the horse not escape last night? Did you mesmer it or something?"

"It's a she, Artemis, and it's called a rope. Besides, the mesmer doesn't work on horses."

"Does it work on any animals?"

"The stupid ones."

"Like…"

"And I thought you know everything about the people," Holly tsked.

"Not _everything." _Artemis replied. "Just what was in the book and what I've learned from fairy contact."

"Like…"

"What do you want to know? You _are _a fairy."

"What you got from fairy-human contact."

"Well, can't I tell you while we're riding? We have to get to the chute first."

"Right. Let's go. Help me up." Holly undid the reins from the branch and let the horse slurp some water.

"Okay." Artemis boosted Holly up onto Holly the horse, pulled himself up onto the horse, this time without any help from Holly. All this physical activity was doing him well…

* * *

After a couple hours of riding at a steady pace, along with conversing, the summer sun was over their heads and beating down on them with sweltering heat. They were in the middle of a deserted field, surrounding by grass, and having not drank water for several hours, decided to pursue a stream. Holly jumped off the horse and walked off, looking back at Artemis who was just standing there looking at the ground hands in his pockets. "Hey, are you okay?"

Artemis looked up at Holly. "Fine. Just fine."

"Artemis, no one is 'just fine.'"

"I am." He stated.

"Come on, you cant fool me. What's wrong?"

"Just homesick, I guess," he admitted.

"Aw, Artemis…do you want a hug?"

"A _hug? "_he scoffed.

"Yeah, you know, when someone wraps their arms around another person to make them feel better. It releases endorphins."

"All right," he sighed.

Holly walked over and gave Artemis a hug. It was close, almost squeezing, but they stayed like that for several minutes until Holly let go. "Ok," she said, "that was…awkward." In reality Holly enjoyed the hug, it was a friendly hug, not too tight, like the ones Trouble gave her on occasion.

"Really?" Artemis asked. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing," Holly sighed. "Its just me."

"Shall we get food or continue riding?"

"Let the horse drink, and eat a bit I guess. The horse looks tired," Holly observed.

"Is she saying something to you?"

"Nah," she replied, "but wouldn't you be tired if you ran for three hours straight?"

"Most definitely. So let's eat." Artemis grabbed the reins, gently leading the horse towards the sound of water at the edge of the field.

After tying the horse to a tree next to the creek and an ample patch of grass, Holly took some food from the bag and sat down, handing a bit to Artemis. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving," Holly commented. "Especially after not eating at breakfast." She glared at Artemis, who laughed.

"Hey, don't blame me," he said. "Just eat."

The two ate in silence for several minutes, and soon rode away into the rising sun.

After several hours of riding, the sun was setting, leaving streaks of red and gold into the sky. Artemis was tired. Not just of being on a horse, but of riding, and of being here. He wasn't tired of Holly, or learning, just the fact that he wouldn't be sleeping on a bed or eating good quality food for a while exasperated the boy genius. "Are we there yet?" he inquired.

"For the last time, Artemis, not for a couple more miles." Holly groaned. The Mud Boy must have asked her every quarter mile for the past hour!

"But I'm tired," he complained.

"And you don't think I am?"

"I never said that."

"You're implying it."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Shut _up,_ Artemis."

Artemis shook his head. When would they get there? "But Holly," he protested, "the sooner we get there, the sooner we can get home."

"I realize that, Artemis, I told you, only a couple more miles. That's less than half an hour. You've waited two weeks, you can wait longer."

"No, I can't."

"If you die of impatience, Artemis, I'll leave you out for the wolves," Holly retorted.

"Thanks, Holly."

"Welcome. Hey, this looks familiar. We're almost there."

"Really? What do you recognize?"

"Landscape, stuff," replied Holly.

"Nice descript, Holly. Very detailed."

"Welcome. Also welcome to the chute, Artemis, we're there."

* * *

Author's Note: Again, sorry for the long update, but…its high school. Its hard!

Please review, and Agivega, if you can, please email me.


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